Cameroonian Marie Aurelle Awona on the revival in Reims
Cameroonian Marie Aurelle Awona.
Reims stadium
Text by: David Kalfa Follow
5 mins
Marie Aurelle Awona returns to the French Championship on September 25, 2020 against PSG, after a short six-month experience in Madrid very disturbed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 27-year-old defender intends to start again this season with the Stade de Reims and with the selection of Cameroon.
Publicity
Read more
"
Maintaining
" with the Stade de Reims in the first division of the French Women's Championship and "
going to Tokyo
" with Cameroon.
For the 2020-2021 season, Marie Aurelle Awona has set herself realistic but crucial goals.
At 27, the defender intends to live a better exercise than the previous one, marked by a semi-failure in African qualifying for the Olympic Games and by a first six-month experience abroad disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"
I'm happy to be back in France
," says the one who worked from January to June at Madrid CFF.
Especially since I have my family which is not very far from Reims.
My visit to Spain was good.
But I also had difficulty because of the language because I didn't speak a word of Spanish.
And then arriving during the season, it was not easy for me either
”.
Arriving from Dijon at the start of the year, the Cameroonian barely had time to play a handful of matches in the Spanish championship (Primera Iberdrola), including a stinging setback against FC Barcelona, before the new coronavirus got involved. .
“
Against Barça, I was sick and I hadn't really played.
But Madrid CFF is a very good club.
The infrastructure was good,
”recalls the one who describes women's football in Spain less physically oriented than in France.
"
The Reims project interested me
"
If she does not regret this short and strange experience, Marie Aurelle Awona needed to find some benchmarks this season.
“
I had quite a few other proposals
,” she explains.
But most of the other clubs were quite far from Paris.
While there, I am 40 minutes from my relatives.
It weighed in the balance.
And then, of course, the Reims project interested me.
This is why I made this choice
”.
The Indomitable Lioness, however, does not see his training (and others) battling in the standings with the tenors of Division 1 (D1 Arkema), in particular Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and especially Olympique Lyonnais (OL).
“
It would be quite difficult
,” she concedes.
Lyon and Paris are big clubs that are difficult to compete with.
But, over time, I see that other clubs can "compete".
There are still 4-5 years, Lyon put 10-0, 11-0, to other teams.
And now it's totally different
”.
Another reassuring point, the D1 Arkema seems to be in the same boat as the French Men's Championship when a crisis like that of the Covid-19 breaks out.
Marie Aurelle Awona has not forgotten that in Spain, the men's Liga resumed in June while the Primera Iberdrola was asked to stop.
“
Still
!
I told myself that we practice the same sport.
So, why stop for girls and not for boys?
Either everyone stops, or everyone continues to play,
”she says.
"
All that's missing is the Olympics in my international career
"
A disappointment that she also experienced with her national team, the 2020 Women's Africa Cup of Nations having been canceled altogether.
“
I did not expect it at all
, swears Marie Aurelle Awona.
I thought it was going to be postponed, ultimately, and not canceled.
For boys, the CAN has been postponed so why not for girls too
?
"
Fortunately, there remains the prospect of qualifying for the Olympics which have been postponed to the summer of 2021 due to the coronavirus.
The Cameroonians were taken out by the Zambians in the final round of the African qualifiers.
But they will be entitled to a second chance, during a double intercontinental dam against the Chileans, scheduled for next February.
“
I think about it a lot because all that is missing is the Olympics in my international career, since I have already played in the World Cup and CAN.
I would therefore like to play the Games with Cameroon,
”concludes the one who remains on a round of 16 at the 2019 World Cup.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Women's football
Cameroon
France
Sports
Africa Foot portraits