A defender fell in love with football too soon
“When I woke up I had a stroke because he didn’t take me to the game with him”
No one really saw this coming but Pierre Bourdin recently joined the large AF Virois family. The opening win over AS Beauvais (2-0) proved to all that the former Cercle de Bruges player was going to do Vire very well in his quest for National 2. Yes, Pierre Bourdin breathes the passion of football and his great goal ball is clearly not new. Just imagine, the 29-year-old defender has been keen on discipline from an early age. “When I was 3-4 years old, on Sunday mornings, I used to accompany my father when he went to play in his club”Misses the newcomer in bocage. “It already allowed me to kick the ball and that gave me fiber. For a story, one morning when he went to play while I was sleeping, I was told that I had had a seizure when I woke up.” Don’t take me into the game with him because he didn’t do it”,
One thing leads to another, the native of Vincennes signed his first player license as soon as possible at Football Club des Lillas. And if he was still a child, football began to take center stage, even more so when, after a few tournaments, Paris Saint-Germain began to take an interest in him, before not offering him a trial and Then offer him a place in his training: a time of great upheaval in young Pierre’s life. “I left my family when I was 10”New virois believe. “It was hard at first. Living in a community away from my parents was hard. The first months were tough, we saw more of our friends than our families, but then I had a lot of fun. We were really just a bunch of friends.” . We had so much fun. We never thought of stopping”, Step by step, the defender found himself big enough to join the Camp des Loges training center in Paris and live the dream of many kids his age.
The Year of Paris and the madness of the U-17 World Cup
“It was a great experience to train with the stars of PSG under the command of Laurent Blanc and Carlo Ancelotti”
A promising player during his teenage years, Pierre Bourdin spent good years during his training with PSG. After regularly falling behind, he also allowed himself to shine on the field by earning a scientific degree. “At the club, I had to do private lessons for two years because I was the only one who chose this path”He rewinds. “It was an important diploma for me and my family”, It didn’t matter his academic success: football remained his priority. And even if the start of the Qatari era in Paris was not for the benefit of training, the young man produced lasting memories. “Sometimes they would take us for internships and coach. It was a great experience to train with the stars of PSG under the command of Laurent Blanc and Carlo Ancelotti.”, Be it Zlatan Ibrahimovic, David Beckham, Thiago Silva, Thiago Motta or Marco Verratti, Pierre Bourdin has had the opportunity to work with all these famous players.
However, his most precious memory, Wirton’s former players in Belgium undoubtedly knew him on the other side of the Atlantic during the 2011 Under-17 World Cup in Mexico. If he was not expected to accompany coach Patrick Gonfalone, the coach called him a few days before his flight, following PSG’s success in the French U17 Championship. In America, Pierre Bourdin had a unique experience by inviting himself to the quarter-finals of the event, along with Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy and Kurt Zouma among others. “It was incredible in terms of organization, I remember the convoy of police from the airport. Even during the internship, we were well monitored. When we went to our hen place at Tigers Stadium in Monterrey, there There was incredible excitement. We played Argentina, Jamaica and Japan there.”, For the record, after participating in two games, the defender also earned the right to carry the flag of Japan, which he keeps very carefully.
Pierre Bourdin, here between Theo Epéli and Reda Lamrabet, had an impressive debut against AS Beauvais, during which he was already indispensable in central defence. ©Aurelien Renault
Belgium, Pierre Bourdin’s second country
“I had a medical checkup, visited the facilities and then I signed. Within a day, I had made my decision”
If Pierre Bourdin seemed to have a future ahead of him after the World Cup, he soon found himself faced with the harsher laws of the game and the fiercer competition at the professional level. Banned at Paris Saint-Germain at a time when stars began to pile up without an exciting project in France, the defender rejected a contract extension from his training club in 2014 to try his luck in the professional world done. towards Belgium. Well he took it. “In this case I had D1, Cercle de Bruges very quickly. I had my medicals, visited the facilities and then I signed. In a day, I had made my decision”says the player who then had only one desire: to quickly show what he is capable of among the “pros”.
In Belgium, in a span of nine years, Pierre Bourdin experienced intense emotions and played great matches in the first and second division. Much famed on the other side of the border, the tonic defender had illustrious moments with Cercle, then Lierse, Beerschot Antwerpen and most recently Wirten, where he notably played alongside a certain Emerick Dudouit. The high point of this whole adventure? Perhaps despite the special circumstances surrounding COVID-19, 2020 saw an increase in the elite with beershot. “After winning 1-0 in March, we played the ultra-inspired second leg final behind closed doors in August. We won 4-1, we were champions, we celebrated but we didn’t celebrate with the fans Could celebrate. . But we still had a lot of fun. The championship resumed next week and on the back of that, we started the season off strong.”, Earlier, alas, finding out D2 after 24 months.
Arrival in Veere: A surreal combination of circumstances
“I didn’t want to be unemployed, waiting until December”
The descent into 2022 with Beerschot served as a trigger in Pierre Bourdin’s mind. After deciding to cancel, he eventually set out to found a club in his native country, but little known in France, the mission proved more dangerous than expected and saw him return to Virton, Belgium, for six months. Had to return Early 2023. Now, to the surprise of many observers, the Vincennes native defends the colors of AF Virois, who have been promoted to the fourth division, even though he was a division above US Avranches and very close to joining US Granville. . More addicted to National 2, had also approached him.
This signing in Virre is a genuine combination of circumstances in which both club and player found their way. “I never saw myself coming down so low, it’s true”The new boss of Virois Defense believes. “I didn’t want to see myself unemployed, waiting until December, something had to be done. (…) Everything went well with the coach and the president. The project is interesting, humanly I would find values I agree with more. We managed to agree on a win-win contract., If that doesn’t deter him from climbing the ladder again in the future, the one who is only 29, is now here fully focused on his Calvados adventure. “There’s a lot of ambition here, I’m sure the club will develop little by little in the time to come”, His goal is in any case to monitor as best as possible these Viroes who are waiting to enter their new universe.
, N2. D2 – AF Virois (1er – 3 points) / FC Chambly (2I – 3 points), saturday 2 september at Stade Pierre-Compte at 6 p.m.