Aurélien Tchouaméni: Meet the French soccer star everyone is talking about
The young French striker had an extraordinary World Cup, scoring twice in France’s stunning semifinal victory over Uruguay, and the headlines have been mostly about his stunning strike against England on Friday.
Despite having never been a star before, Aurélien is the front-runner to be France’s next No. 1.
That could be problematic for the national team as French coaches often play it safe by selecting players who have already been well established elsewhere.
But in the case of Aurélien, they’ll have to choose between a young man with World Cup experience and a teenager who has yet to taste success with a club.
Below, ESPN FC looks at the 23-year-old Aurélien and his path to international stardom.
Profile
When Aurélien Tchouaméni was born, he was named Aurore. It was a very unusual name indeed. In France, it was more typical of a woman, and he was called by his mother, who preferred to raise him to be a boy, which meant his life was dominated by his female identity.
In many ways, he was a good kid for the most part. He played soccer with the same teams he went to school with at his small hometown of Le Bourget, north of Paris. He was a team captain in his early teens and was regularly chosen to represent France, playing for Paris Saint-Germain as a 15-year-old.
“I felt like I was more than just a soccer player for the first few years of my life,” he said. “I was always playing with the boys. We had so much fun. It’s a funny story that my first choice of sport would be basketball, then soccer.”
Tchouaméni didn’t really fit in with France’s youth system when he left for Marseille, a club he joined in 2007 while still a teenager. Because they were a youth affiliate of Paris Saint-Germain, Marseille were the only club allowed to play in the French national youth championships before the age of 16. As a consequence, players such as Tchouaméni weren’t allowed to play in France’s