Romain Rouillard / Photo credit: JEAN CATUFFE / DPPI via AFP 22:05 p.m., June 01, 2023

Interviewed at the microphone of Europe 1, the substitute goalkeeper of RC Lens, Jean-Louis Leca, evoked the reasons that led him to wear the jersey of blood and gold. And notably mentioned the Hauts-de-France region which, according to him, has many similarities with his native Corsica.

Jean-Louis Leca and Yannick Cahuzac have two things in common. Originally from Corsica, the two players also wore the jersey of RC Lens, freshly qualified for the Champions League at the end of a fabulous season, which he will finish in second place in Ligue 1. A season lived as a substitute goalkeeper for Leca and in the staff of coach Franck Haise for Cahuzac, retired for a year. Interviewed by Jacques Vendroux for the show Europe 1 Sport, the doorman passed by Bastia and Ajaccio reveals the reasons that pushed the two friends to choose the artesian club.

A common trajectory that owes nothing to chance. And that Jean-Louis Leca explains by the similarities between Corsica and Hauts-de-France. "It's a region that looks like us. Nord-Pas-de-Calais is often referred to as the poorest region in France. But the second poorest region in France is Corsica. People don't know it because they see the beaches and the boats, but that's summer." For him and Cahuzac, RC Lens sounded obvious. "When there was Lens, we didn't think for a second," said the goalkeeper. His professional career had also led him to Valenciennes, only sixty kilometers from Lens, between 2008 and 2013.

"You play in clubs that look like you"

"We arrived in a region where people have the same identity as us," Leca continues. "That is to say, they love their land, they are very family and very respectful of everything their elders have done." In Lens, the former Bastiais goalkeeper and the former Toulouse FC midfielder have therefore found a share of Corsica, despite the 1,300 kilometers separating the two regions. "These are things that stick to our education and what we just love." Enough to convince the two friends to extend their stay in the land of corons. "It's one of the things that pushed us to stay and made us want to fight even more for this club and its supporters. I think there is no coincidence. You play in clubs that look like you."

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Arrived at RC Lens in the summer of 2018, when the club was still playing in Ligue 2, Jean-Louis Leca totals 136 matches with the blood and gold tunic. An indisputable starter in his first four years, he had to give up his place this year to Brice Samba, elected best goalkeeper of the season in Ligue 1 and called in Didier Deschamps' list for the next two matches of the France team. In 2014, while wearing the Bastia jersey, he caused heated scuffles and an invasion of the field in Nice after waving a huge Corsican flag on the lawn at the end of the game.