Kevin Lejeune (born 22 January 1985) is a French former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

and current Team Manager of

FC Metz Football Club de Metz () is a Football in France, French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 1, the highest division in the French football league system, for the 2025–26 Ligue 1, ...

. Formed at

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

where he made his debut in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

in 2006, Lejeune was loaned to

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

before leaving for

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

club

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

in 2010. Two years later he signed for

, and won two consecutive promotions from the

Championnat National The Championnat National (), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, is the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, the Championnat National operates on a system of ...

to Ligue 1, extending his contract three times. When it expired in 2017, he joined

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French language, French: ; or ; , locally: ; ) is the capital and largest city of Corsica, France. It forms a communes of France, French commune, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Corse-du-Sud, and head o ...

. After three seasons with the club, he retired from playing.

Career

Auxerre

Born in

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; ; ), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river. A sub-pref ...

Nord Nord, a word meaning "north" in several European languages, may refer to: Acronyms * National Organization for Rare Disorders, an American nonprofit organization * New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans, Louisiana, US Film and televisi ...

, Lejeune began his career in 1998 with

Toulouse Fontaines Club Toulouse Fontaines Club was a football club based in Toulouse, France. Their stadium was in the rue des Fontaines, in the Saint-Cyprien suburb of Toulouse. The club was dissolved in 2016 as part of a merger with ''Toulouse Saint-Jo Football SC'' ...

before moving to

in July 2000. He made his debut on 19 November 2006 during a 1–0

win over

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

at home, coming on in added time in place of

Luigi Pieroni Luigi Pieroni (born 8 September 1980) is a Belgian football manager and former player who is assistant manager of Raja CA. A forward, he played in Belgium and France. At international level, he represented the Belgium national team. Playing c ...

. He made three more appearances off the bench, and on 26 May 2007 in the last game of the season, he replaced

Ireneusz Jeleń Ireneusz Jeleń (; born 9 April 1981) is a Polish footballer who plays as a right-winger or striker for CKS Piast Cieszyn. Club career Jeleń was born in Cieszyn. From 2002 to 2006, he played for Ekstraklasa side Wisła Płock. In four seas ...

in the 35th minute and scored at the end of a 3–1 win at

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

. On 22 September 2007, he was sent off in a 2–0 victory against

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

at the

Stade de l'Abbé-Deschamps The Stade Abbé-Deschamps () is the home of AJ Auxerre football club in Auxerre, France. It has a capacity of 18,541. Renovated in 1994, it was renamed the Stade Abbé-Deschamps after the abbot Ernest-Théodore Valentin Deschamps, who founded t ...

. Over the following two seasons, Lejeune played regularly, but in 2009–10 manager Jean Fernandez preferred players such as Kamel Chafni in his position and he started just once in the first half of the campaign. On 6 January 2010, he joined

club

on loan for the remainder of the season.

Tours

In July 2010, Lejeune joined

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

on trial, playing 45 minutes of a pre-season 3–0 defeat to Portimonense. Later that month, he moved on a free transfer to

of Ligue 2, on a two-year contract.

Metz

At the conclusion of Lejeune's Tours contract, he signed one of the same duration at

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

in the

. He played 33 matches as they won promotion as runners-up to

Créteil Créteil () is a Communes of France, commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Créteil is the ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-de-Marne Departments of France, dep ...

, and scored once in a 2–0 win at

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. ...

on 12 April 2013. In his second season at the Stade Saint-Symphorien, the ''Grenats'' won a second consecutive promotion, this time as champions of Ligue 2. He scored four times, including two at Brest in a 3–0 win on 21 October 2013. In January 2014, he extended his contract by another two years, and signed further one-year extensions in August 2015 and September 2016.

Ajaccio

Lejeune left Metz on 31 August 2017, for

also in Ligue 2. In his first season, he played 25 games as the

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

ns came third, and scored once on 6 April 2018 to conclude a 2–0 win at

Châteauroux Châteauroux ( ; ; ) is the capital city of the French department of Indre, central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called ''Castelroussins'' () in French. Climate Châteauroux te ...

. Three weeks later, he was sent off in a loss by the same score at

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

After retirement

After retiring at the end of the 2019-20 season, Lejeune returned to his former club,

, as a team manager. As of September 2022, Lejeune was still in the same position.Ligue 2: the sanctions of the disciplinary committee after FC Metz
actualnewsmagazine.com, 14 September 2022

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lejeune, Kevin Living people 1985 births Footballers from Cambrai Men's association football forwards French men's footballers Montauban FCTG players AJ Auxerre players FC Nantes players Tours FC players FC Metz players AC Ajaccio players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National players France men's under-21 international footballers France men's youth international footballers 21st-century French sportsmen