Sandrine Dusang, 39, former player for France and leading equality activist
What would you really like to do? Sandrine Dusangs mother asked her six-year-old daughter, who would cry every time she went to dance class. I want to play football, she replied. Soon she was one of very few girls kicking a ball around in her village club near Vichy, France. When Dusang turned 13 and was no longer allowed to play it with boys, her mother drove her three times a week to train with other girls in Moulins an hour away.In 2003, after graduating from the French national female soccer academy CNFE Clairefontaine, Dusang, a defender, joined Frances high-ranking Olympique Lyonnais Feminin and was selected to play for France (appearing at the 2005 European Cup tournament). But because she earned only a small match fee for each game she played, she had to work as a marketing assistant for the club.Id work all day in the office, grab a snack and my gear, and run to my training session, she recalls, only too aware it wasnt the same for the men. French women footballers were finally given contracts in 2009.Dusang represented France in 47 international matches between 2003 and 2011, but today, she fights for equal opportunities in the game. Football is a school of life, she explains. It can be played anywhere: in your garden, in the road, on a playground. Through football you develop personally. Girls often have to be more assertive to succeed, and football can help with that. It makes us stronger.
Her activism has taken several forms. She spent four years editing French news site Foot dElles, promoting womens soccer and diversity in sport, and volunteering for Equal Playing Field. Its an international collective that promotes sports development for women worldwide; it has representation in 32 countries but is based mainly in the U.S. and U.K.Now, 20 years after starting her pro playing career, Dusang is fighting to get recognition for Corsicas first exclusively female club. Based in the city of Bastia, on the Mediterranean island that is a region of France, she is both a player and co-president of Fminine Esprit Club (FEC) Bastia. Soon after arriving in Corsica in 2019, she discovered that womens soccer teams there were allowed to play only in regional competitions, and not against teams from mainland France.After she lobbied Corsican politicians, her club was included in the nationwide Coupe de France competition in December 2022 (the team had one victory and one loss).Sandrine Dusang has also used her position at FEC Bastia to convey important messages and values. Players shirts carry LGBT colours and a slogan in the Corsican language promoting gender equality. It translates as Everyone can play.
