How brilliant is Lyon centurion Wendie Renard? | UEFA Women’s Champions League
If one image sums up the decade since the UEFA Women’s Champions League was founded, it’s that of towering Wendie Renard lifting the trophy.
She did so as Lyon captain for five consecutive seasons and has appeared in nine finals and won seven titles in total since the 2009/10 UEFA Women’s Cup name change. Indeed, the only other person who can match those two feats in Europe’s top women’s or men’s club competitions is Sarah Bouhaddi, his own longtime colleague at club and country.
On top of that, in 2020, Renard was selected in the top ten for the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year award for a record seventh time and eventually made the shortlist of three, being named first defender. of the UEFA Women’s Champions League season. Then, on April 24, 2022, she became the first player to reach 100 appearances in the competition, another milestone for a defender who is in the all-time top 20 for goals scored.
What they say
“Wendie Renard is an exceptional player. Wendie is unclassifiable and cannot be replaced.”
Jean-Luc Vasseur, Lyon coach
“I don’t think there is anyone like her in women’s football.”
Maren Mjelde, Chelsea and Norway player
“I don’t think all the media or the public are sufficiently aware of the impact Wendie Renard can have on a game, through her quality of play, her leadership qualities and her professionalism. I leaned on Wendie and that Wasn’t easy because she’s got a hell of a personality and we didn’t always agree, but we had a common goal.”
Gérard Prêcheur, former Lyon coach
“She is a young woman who suffered a lot when she was young, who lost her father when she was eight years old. She was a little disoriented when she arrived in Lyon. She was able to climb the ladder and deserve her place with great athletic qualities.” and lots of personality. Today, for me, she is the best defender in the world.”
Jean-Michel Aulas, President of Lyon
“She’s a great player, she brings a lot of experience, serenity. She deserves all these distinctions. It’s still a great moment for her and I’m happy for my captain.”
Lyon central defense partner Griedge Mbock Bathy on Renard’s 100th UEFA match
Claims to fame
Lyons
• Renard hails from the French Caribbean territory of Martinique, the youngest of four daughters.
• The teenager Renard flew to mainland France for a trial at the national team academy in Clairefontaine; she was unsuccessful but took a train to Lyon and secured a contract there (“It was fate”, she would later write), joining at the age of 16 in 2006.
• Renard broke into the team quickly, playing twice in their first winning season in 2006/07 and becoming a regular in the following campaign, playing in OL’s first game in the UEFA Women’s Cup against Slovan Duslo Šala on August 9, 2007.
• Renard at centre-back has been pivotal in Lyon’s rise from ambitious French league hopefuls to European football’s dominant club over the past decade, taking over as captain in 2013.
• She is the club’s appearance record holder and sixth on their all-time goalscoring list, notably providing an aerial threat from set pieces – such as with Lyon’s first-ever goal in the Champions League final women’s champions when they beat Turbine Potsdam 2-0 in London. in 2011.
• So far during Renard’s time in Lyon, in addition to her seven Women’s Champions League successes, she has won 14 consecutive French league titles and nine French Cups as well as several other victories in invitational tournaments . She has captained most of them, including the current run of five consecutive Champions League final victories (also selected in the official UEFA Team of the Season on each of the five occasions and named first defender of the UEFA Women’s Champions League season in 2020/21).
• She started 2021 with an incredible goalscoring streak: her penalty for the 1-0 win in the Women’s Champions League quarter-final first leg in Paris netted nine goals in nine games for club and country.
• Lyon ended up losing their European and French titles while later in 2021 Renard suffered an injury but came back strong in 2022 and in April became the first player to 100 appearances in women’s club competition UEFA.
France
• She may not have made it to Clairefontaine, but Renard quickly carved out a place for herself in the France youth team, playing in the final stages of the 2008 UEFA European Women’s Under-19 Championship and 2009 as well as the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
• Renard’s senior debut came on 2 March 2011 against Switzerland in the Cyprus Women’s Cup. That summer, at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, where she reached the semi-finals, she established herself as a starter in central defense, which she remains.
• She captained her country between 2013 and 2017.
• Renard was named to the official squads for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2013 and 2015 World Cup tournaments.
• Renard scored three goals for the hosts at the 2019 World Cup, and although she is yet to make France’s top ten players, the defender ranks tenth among their all-time top scorers.
What you may not know
• She was watching the French women’s team play on television in Martinique when Marinette Pichon appeared on the screen. Renard told his mother, “One day you’ll see me on TV wearing this shirt.”
• When asked at school what she wanted to do in life, her two choices were professional soccer player and flight attendant. His teacher made him cross out the word professional, explaining: “This job doesn’t exist.
• Renard finished seventh and sixth in voting for the first two women’s Ballon d’Ors in 2018 and 2019, both times the highest-ranked centre-back. Also in the top 20 in 2021.
what she says
“It was rare for girls to play football in Martinique, so it was even rarer that it was the women in my family who pushed me to play. They were the ones who loved football as much as I did. My aunt was referee on the My mom used to play a little and watch games all the time, so when my sisters and I argued over the TV, I always had the judge on my side.
“I joined [Lyon] very young, and I met players who had naturally [winning] DNA, so you gradually start to learn. Training sessions are war; you are playing a small practice match and you want to win. You progress by rubbing shoulders with great players, players who hate losing, and even coaches who blow your mind. When a coach keeps telling you win, win, win, win, you can’t think about losing, losing, losing.”
On Lyon’s first UEFA mini-tournament in North Macedonia in 2007… “I remember we were playing hide and seek in the hotel. Some of us were even hiding on the roof of the hotel. A wedding was taking place at the hotel and the package was to give the bride and groom a kiss . I don’t remember who had to do it! It was a lot of fun. We met and played in the hallways. After we won our three games, we went to the hotel pool, where there was water. music. We just savored the moment as it was the first time the club had qualified for the next round.”
“We have equaled this record [Real Madrid’s five European titles in a row] but now we have to aim for the sixth to beat it. I am never satisfied; you can count on me to be there next year.”
“Growing up, I had this objective of winning titles, but above all of succeeding in mainland France. I am enjoying the moment but I know that I must continue to be demanding, because everything can disappear if I make a mistake. I am aware of my evolution but I achieved it within a team and with fully committed people. We did it together and it’s not over yet. I will continue to write history.”
What she could still accomplish
• With Lyon, all Renard can do is extend the records they and she already hold, and they are unlikely to drop anytime soon.
• France, on the other hand, have yet to reach a major final despite having so much talent to call on, including Renard and his fellow Lyon side. UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 at Wembley and the 2023 World Cup in Sydney are her next chances for national team glory to add to the many cities in which she has won club trophies.