Vicki Jessy Bècho Desbonne (born 3 October 2003) is a French 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 plays as a forward for

Première Ligue The Première Ligue ( ; sponsor name Arkema Première Ligue) is a professional women's association football league at the highest level of the French football league system, and is run by the Ligue féminine de football professionnel (LFFP). ...

club

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

and the France national team.

Early life

Vicki Jessy Bècho Desbonne was born on 3 October 2003 and grew up in Montreuil, France. Bècho first started playing football in secret, as her mother did not approve of girls playing football. One day her aunt took her mother to watch her play and she was so impressed that she was happy to let her continue. Her idols were

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

and

Lucho González Luis Óscar "Lucho" González (; born 19 January 1981) is an Argentine former professional Association football, footballer, currently a Manager (association football), manager. A versatile midfielder who was able to play in different positions ...

. She would watch videos of Ronaldo before a match, and had a pair of Gonzalez' signed boots.

Club career

Bècho played for SC Malay de Grand after being spotted by Ali Ben Ahmed, a coach at the club. She played until the U12 category and then joined FC Sens in 2015, joining the U13s. Then, in 2016, at 15, Becho joined the

Paris Saint-Germain Academy The Paris Saint-Germain FC Youth Academy () is the youth system of both Paris Saint-Germain FC, Paris Saint-Germain's male and Paris Saint-Germain FC (women), female teams. Managed by the Association Paris Saint-Germain, the men's section of ...

. She signed for

from

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

in 2020. She signed on loan to

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

in 2021. Bècho scored her first goal for Lyon in a

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

match against

Rodez Rodez (, , ; , ) is a small city and commune in the South of France, about 150 km northeast of Toulouse. It is the prefecture of the department of Aveyron, region of Occitania (formerly Midi-Pyrénées). Rodez is the seat of the communau ...

on 7 January 2023.

International career

Bècho was called up for qualifiers for the 2019 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship, playing all three matches and scoring against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. In the same year, she scored three goals for

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

at the

2019 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The 2019 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Women's Under-19 Euro 2019) was the 18th edition of the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship (22nd edition if the Under-18 era is included), the annual international youth football champ ...

, including one against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and a brace to help France beat

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in extra time in the semi-finals. She was the first 15-year-old to score at the tournament since

Ada Hegerberg Ada Martine Stolsmo Hegerberg (born 10 July 1995) is a Norwegian professional Women's association football, footballer who plays as a striker (association football), striker for the Première Ligue club Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, Lyon and the ...

in 2011. Bècho was also called up for 2022 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship qualification, playing against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

, scoring against the latter. She then represented France at the

2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup () was the 10th edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its ...

, where she was named player of the match for their last group stage game against Korea Republic. Bècho was one of three Lyon players called up to the France under-23 squad for two friendly matches against the United States in February 2023. Bècho was named to the French team for the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

, and was the youngest player in the squad. She made her senior international debut at the tournament, coming on as a substitute in the 66th minute in a scoreless draw against Jamaica on 23 July. She set up

Eugénie Le Sommer Eugénie Anne Claudine Le Sommer-Dariel (born 18 May 1989) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for Première Ligue club Lyon and the France national team. She primarily plays as a creative attacking midfielder and left ...

's goal against

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

in the round of 16. On 2 August she scored in Les Bleues' winning match against

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. She was named by FIFA as one of the tournament's "rising stars", along with the likes of Lauren James,

Linda Caicedo Linda Lizeth Caicedo Alegría (born 25 February 2005) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a Forward (football), forward for Liga F club Real Madrid Femenino, Real Madrid and the Colombia women's national football team, Colombia ...

, and Esmee Brugts, who had "created a lasting impact on the tournament". Despite hitting the post in her 12th spot kick in an extended

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

(Australia-France 7-6), Bècho was praised for her performance "blazing a trail down heright hand side" In July 2024, Becho was named in France's squad for the

2024 Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

International goals

Style of play

Seen as a highly promising player, Bècho has "lots of potential", technique and talented finishing, with huge quality in both feet, with power and precision in her shots. She is also known for her speed. Before France's 2023 World Cup game against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

on 13 August, Bècho was named by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' football journalist Jack Snape as one of "four France players who can break Australian hearts at the World Cup", along with

Renard Renard may refer to: Engineering and design * Renard series, a system of preferred numbers divided into intervals from 1 to 10, and with 5, 10, 20 or 40 steps Fictional characters and art *Reynard, anthropomorphic fox of European folklore *Ren ...

, Diani, and Le Sommer.

Personal life

Bècho and teammate in the national team Laurina Fazer are almost inseparable friends, and are nicknamed "Tic et Tac" on account of their closeness.

Honours

PSG In February 2020, Bècho won the first ever Women's Golden Titi, an honorary trophy for rewarding the best player at the PSG training center. Other honours awarded while she was at PSG were: *

Coupe de France Féminine The Coupe de France Féminine (, ''Women's French Cup'') is the top annual cup tournament for French women's football clubs. The competition is open to all professional and non-professional women's teams in France. Founded in 2001 as Challenge ...

(2019/20) *

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. ...

(2019/20) Lyon *

Division 1 Féminine Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 to ...

(runners up, 2020/21) *

Women's International Champions Cup The Women's International Champions Cup (WICC) is an annual club women's soccer invitational tournament in the United States. Launched by Relevent Sports Group in 2018, it features four women's soccer teams from America and Europe competing for ...

(runners up, 2021) (2022) France *

UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, is an annual competition in women's football for European national teams of players under 19 years of age. National under-19 teams whose countries belon ...

(

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

) * Sud Ladies Cup (runners up, 2022)

References

External links

Vicki Bècho
UEFA Champions League stats {{DEFAULTSORT:Becho, Vicki 2003 births Living people Women's association football forwards French women's footballers France women's youth international footballers Paris Saint-Germain FC (women) players Olympique Lyonnais Féminin players Stade de Reims Féminines players Première Ligue players 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for France 21st-century French sportswomen