A communicative smile, which never leaves her. At 19, Laurina Fazer lives, within the France team, the first World Cup of her career with simple joy. But not without ambition, she who can’t wait to get off the bench to play her first minutes in Australia. The third game against Panama, by far the most affordable opponent in this group, which Les Bleues took over after their fine victory over Brazil last Saturday (2-1), will give them the opportunity to stretch your legs? His coach, Hervé Renard, is in any case rave about him, even if he has not yet used his qualities: “He is a diamond in its purest form. She technically skims over the debates. Despite her young age, she shows a lot of maturity. If she realizes this and nothing bad happens, she can become the best player in the France team. She is unpredictable, impresses me and gives the feeling of flying sometimes.
An opinion shared by Selma Bacha: “Laurina is a very good player and at her young age she surprised me. She has it all: the vision, a top mindset, she gives it her all and frankly, it doesn’t look like she’s still a baby, if I can say that because I’m still young. She is installed. We are here to put it in the best conditions. A quick adaptation for the one who was called up for the senior selection for the first time by Corinne Deacon in October 2022, at only 18 years old. Since then, the identity of the coach has changed but Fazer is still there. Without having the feeling that everything is going too fast for her, who had signed her first professional contract with PSG at the age of 16. “I wouldn’t say it’s going too fast,” she confided to us at Clairefontaine before flying off to Australia. “Afterwards, yes, it went quickly. I played recently with the U19s and there, to experience my first World Cup in A, with all these great players, it’s quite incredible. Girls like Wendie (Renard) or Eugénie (Le Sommer), two or three years ago, I watched them on television and they made me dream.
For her integration, Laurina Fazer was initially able to rely on her Parisian partners, such as Kadidiatou Diani or Grace Geyoro. “But today, I really feel integrated by all the girls, and not just the Parisians,” she updates. “Our group is living well, it shows during our training. It’s a good thing because it allows us not to see the time passing. I feel good with the girls, they helped me integrate well. Now I have my bearings and compared to that, I am very happy. It only remains for this fan of Iniesta, Verratti and de Bruyne to be able to assert his qualities on the ground, namely an impressive technique and acceleration capacity, compensating for a more modest size – 1.65m for 55 kilos –.
“I love watching football on TV, whether men’s or women’s, because it helps me progress,” she says, her gaze passionate. As for his media status as a nugget, it made him smile more than it gave him delusions of grandeur: “It’s flattering. Afterwards, I know that there are many players who have been described as nuggets and who in the end have done nothing. So I don’t keep that word in mind all the time. Football moves very fast and you have to constantly work to become the player you want to be. I like this qualifier, I’m not going to complain about it, but I’m not going to rest on it. My family helps me keep my head on my shoulders. I have three brothers and three sisters who will quickly slap me on the wrist if I start taking myself for someone else.
Football, the Ile-de-France discovered it very young, from the age of 5. By desire to follow his two big sisters. “They played football and I just wanted to do like them. I was 5 years old and inevitably, I wanted to follow them. They were my role models. Except that at the base, my mother wanted me to play tennis. But that meant nothing to me. And I think I made the right choice,” she adds, laughing. The rest, she wrote to Paris SG, which she joined at the age of 6 after a short season in Argenteuil, the city where she was born. With her family always behind her to support her. “My sisters come to all my matches. They are very proud, and not jealous at all. I remember, when I was younger and I had tournaments outside the Ile de France, they took the car to come and see me play. They are my strength. My parents have always been there for me too. When I finished training at Camp des Loges at 9 p.m., they were always there to pick me up when there were girls returning by transport. My family pushes me to show beautiful things. When I’m less well, when I have doubts, they always find the right words to re-motivate me and make me happy.”
Happiness, Laurina Fazer also takes it in a sport which has known, over time and at the cost of many fights, to support women’s practice more effectively. “Before, the girls didn’t have the opportunity to play at the Parc des Princes. In terms of salaries, infrastructure, it had nothing to do. Today, young people at PSG have a boarding school and a training center. It is a pity for the previous generations who were not able to benefit from this and who, for some, may not have been able to have a career for lack of means. And the young woman added: “We discuss it with girls my age and we say to ourselves that we are very lucky. When you see where women’s football is today and where it was even ten years ago, it has nothing to do. Everything is not perfect but you can only be happy to see mentalities evolve, resources increase. I hope it will continue on the same path.”
Moreover, she herself admits having had the chance to pass between the drops of endemic sexism as soon as a girl wants to tease the round ball with boys. “When I was little, I spent my time at the City Stade d’Argenteuil. The boys always chose me first and I never had to deal with sexism. Afterwards, maybe the fact that my brothers came with me also helped a lot,” she laughs. “But I know girls who suffered during their youth. This shouldn’t happen,” she says, in a much more serious tone. Before concluding, on a possible role as a model that could return to him in the more or less near future: “I had the chance to go to Guadeloupe this summer, my father’s native land, and that made me sad to see that women’s football was underdeveloped there. While the little girls I met there were super happy to see me, they asked me for a lot of advice. That’s when I thought I had a role to play and if I can be a role model for some, I hope I can be a good one.”
