 Ettien was born in Abidjan.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 at Levante, Ettien became one of the team's most important players – despite suffering racist abuse early on in his career in the country; in his first season, however, he only appeared in seven games (308 minutes) as the team was relegated from Segunda División.