A right midfielder with great stamina and strength,[2] he also held a Spanish passport due to the years spent in the country,[3] all with Levante where he played 324 competitive matches – 81 of those in La Liga.
While representing Ivory Coast in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, he caught the eyes of Spanish club Levante UD, who purchased both him and his compatriot Idrissa Keita.
While Keita flopped, Ettien became one of the team's most important players – despite suffering racist abuse early on in his career in the country;[5] in his first season, however, he only appeared in seven games (308 minutes) as they were relegated from the Segunda División.
[10] After the under-20 exploits, Ettien won six caps (one goal) for the Ivorian national team, appearing against DR Congo and Madagascar in the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign.
[11] On 19 October 2018, after several failed business enterprises, Ettien was employed as bus driver at the Royal Spanish Football Federation, presided by his former Levante teammate Luis Rubiales.