Amanda Henry Has evolved as a midfielder since the 2000s. Trained at the Clairefontaine training center, she joined Olympique Lyonnais in 2007. She built an exceptional record there with twelve French champion titles and six Champions Leagues. In 2009, she honored her first selection with the France team and became its captain in 2017, a role she took on during the 2019 World Cup organized in France.
At the microphone of Bixente Lizarazuthe French international footballer looks back on the highlights of her career?
Portland: the most beautiful experience of his entire life
In addition to her football career in France, Amandine Henry also had experience in the United States. For a season and a half, she left OL to join the Portland Thorns in the National Women’s Soccer League. With this team, she won the United States Championship in 2017. For her, it is a memorable memory that she will never forget: “It was the best experience of my entire life: we won all the trophies. I discovered another culture, another way of playing football.. The French player especially wanted to understand what makes them so successful.
The first thing Amandine realized was that American women know how to stay positive in all circumstances. She tells an anecdote about it: “It was my first game in the United States and I had been nil. I said to the coach: “I’m sorry, I sucked”, and he said to me: “No, you were the best”. He always wanted to be positive. The positive brings the positive. »
In France, we like to know what the player eats and what time he is in his room. – Amandine Henry
She was also able to see that the way of managing is completely different, based on trust and responsibility. “When we went on trips, they gave us an envelope with money. Arrived at the airport, I said: “But what is that? » , and he said to me : « This is useful for you to eat when we are on the move ». They don’t eat as a team all the time.”, she says. She had not experienced this autonomy in France. “In France, we like to know what the player is eating and what time he is in his room”, she notes. This way of making the players responsible for their lifestyle impressed her: “You can tell yourself that it can go into a spin, that the players will come home at any time and eat fries. In fact, it’s empowering, and at least you know why you’re doing it. You might make the mistake twice, but you’ll figure it out for yourself that it’s important to eat healthy and go to bed early.”
Even if Amandine Henry was completely happy and fulfilled within this team, she made the choice to return to France. “There was the Coupe de France coming up, so I wanted to be in the country to try to promote it, to work with the French players. The family was missing and my experience was full, because I had won all the trophies”she says.
Today, the football player claims to be well at Olympique Lyonnais, even if she does not completely rule out having another experience in a club across the Atlantic.