France Bleu Gironde: was it a difficult decision to leave Mont de Marsan, leave the family, arrive here in Gironde in Blanquefort and devote 100% to football?
Andréa Lardez: yes and no, because I was very young at that time. I left at sixteen. But I had a short year of transition where Blanquefort, who wanted to recruit me, gave me this time to adapt by suddenly allowing me to train in Gironde because I was in Bordeaux for my first year at university and going to play with the Étoile Sportif Mons women’s team at the weekend so that I can go home to my family. So it made things easier for me to actually move to Blanquefort the following year.
The work that was done in Blanquefort on women’s football quickly allowed the creation of a women’s section at the Girondins de Bordeaux to reach the highest level very quickly?
It is true that there has been a lot of work done in Blanquefort, in particular with its president, Liliane Duluc, whom I greet and whom I still see from time to time. With Françoise Brunet who was at the Girondins at the time, these two women are really at the origin of the women’s section. Since we went under the colors of FC Girondins de Bordeaux, with a first year in D2 and a rise immediately the following year in D1, we have seen dazzling growth because right away, it There are resources that have been made available to us, both medically and in terms of infrastructure. A lot of things have been done and as a result, the women’s section immediately took on a fairly large size.
Until the experience of the Champions League with FCGB Women and this play-off against Wolsfburg in Libourne last September, was it something you wanted to experience as a professional footballer?
Of course, it’s something I wanted to experience and I hope to be able to experience it again, especially if it’s with Bordeaux. We would have preferred to have had more luck in the draw, but we also said to ourselves that, even if it means playing a Champions League play-off, we might as well play it against a team that already had that experience. Play against Wolsfburg, which has just been eliminated in the semi-finals against Barcelona and come very close to the feat. It’s rather a very nice experience and I think we will all remember it for a very long time.
There were also a lot of supporters in the Champions League while for D1 matches there is not yet the deserved, expected, hoped-for crowd in Sainte-Germaine, is that a regret for you?
We see that there are people who have been following us now almost from the beginning. But it’s true that we would like it to take on a slightly larger scale. Having the supporters is something that is positive for us in terms of energy and image. We need that, so we know the club has a lot of work to do. We know that we, the players, have a lot of work to do to attract people, make them want to come see us for the first time, a second time and then retain them. Here is by being close to them, by exchanging and then simply by showing beautiful football.
There are 12 clubs currently in D1, would you be in favor of a championship with more teams as Jean-Michel Aulas seems to want, who has done a lot in France for women’s football with Olympique Lyonnais?
Absolutely. We are the first to actually advocate for the D1 championship to be really expanded, at least with two more teams, or even four if possible. Because there, we can clearly see that over this part of the season, the championship is completely chopped up. We play every two or even three weeks. So I know that there are reforms that are planned and now that the level of D2 has increased, I think we have the possibility of having a more homogeneous, broader D1 so that we can fill the schedule. And then that we have, why not, teams of professional clubs with super interesting posters.
Women’s football is doing better and better: the Champions League semi-final in front of 93,000 spectators at the Camp Nou, PSG vs OL at the Parc des Princes in front of 43,000 people, TV audiences are also on the rise, there is a beginning of recognition?
Yes, of course, there is a beginning of recognition. I am convinced that this is the result of the work of the federations and clubs over the past few years. Now, I’m not sure we’ve arrived yet. I think there is still a lot, a lot of work to be done to retain people and to generalize these attendances and that these are no longer just records, but that it is in fact something normal, I am convinced that We’ll get there, but it’s going to take a little more work.
Bordeaux PSG is Saturday May 7 at 4:45 p.m. at the Sainte-Germaine du Bouscat stadium.