”Salta l’avversario e calcia forte!”
If you didn’t know what that sentence meant, you can put yourself in Faustine Pellegry’s shoes. The Frenchwoman joined the Milanese club Kick-Off without being able to speak a word of Italian last year. What she was being ushered to do was beat her opponent and shoot hard.
Pellegry is a trailblazer in French futsal, having become the first female player to reach professional status. As her national team’s all-time top goalscorer, she’s a bona fide ambassador for the sport. She’s always given her all, with no thought of personal gain. As a result, she is now just a few matches away from taking part in the first FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup™. FIFA caught up with Pellegry ahead of the elite round of European qualifying from 19-22 March.
You started off by playing 11-a-side football. How did you get into futsal?
Faustine Pellegry: Funnily enough, it was a futsal course I did at FC Erdre in 2010 that really got me into football in the first place. That’s what made me realise that I wanted to play football, so I joined FC Nantes. After that, I went back to the club when I was 15, which had become Nantes Metropole Futsal after a merger, to play futsal at the same time. That lasted three years, before I decided to give up football and really focus on futsal. It’s a really great sport. My heart was set on specialising in the sport and choosing to only play futsal.
When you joined Kick-Off, it made you the first French women’s player to turn professional. How did you settle in?
It wasn’t easy at the start. I had never studied Italian before I moved to Milan. Plus, on top of the language barrier, I had to figure out the training instructions and learn the team’s tactics. Each time after training, I would spend an hour revising everything I had just learnt. I kept having to go over everything. It really felt like I was learning the sport all over again. Things are much faster here. While there is usually one favoured tactical approach at a French club, there are four here. I knew it was going to be tough, which is also what I was looking for by coming here. I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and push myself to the limit.
Are you proud of your status? Is it also a responsibility to be shouldered?
I’m very, very proud to be the first woman to play professionally. That said, I only really play futsal because I love it. When I signed my contract, I didn’t realise how much recognition it would bring me. It’s a real pleasure. I’ve become sort of an ambassador for futsal, which means a lot to me because I’m actively involved in getting young people involved in the sport, including through associations. It’s something that I can pass on, which I like doing.
What’s your take on the development of futsal in France?
I think that futsal is really gaining momentum. I think the [Paris 2024] Olympics triggered something for indoor sports. The [French Football] Association goes to a lot of trouble to promote us, both men and women. There’s something about futsal that makes people fall in love with it. Everyone gets 100 per cent involved in the game, whether on the pitch or in the stands. For the men, the national championship has become a professional competition, which means things are really starting to take off, and for us women, the French team gives us a lot of visibility. It’s great to have more media coverage because that’s our only request. My personal goal is to put as much focus as possible on futsal through my social media, and to get involved in the sport’s development. Playing futsal is one thing, but I firmly believe that playing a part in its development is also just as important.
You are the top scorer in the history of the French women’s team. How is this newly-created team coming along?
Things are picking up very nicely. The results have come thick and fast, right from our first match against Finland (1-1). Then we won the Love Serbia [Tournament] and qualified for the elite round [of UEFA qualifying for Philippines 2025], beating favourites Ukraine and then Northern Ireland, as well as coming away with a 2-2 draw against Czechia. Each result helped us grow during the tournament. When we managed to qualify, some of the girls were in tears, while others couldn’t contain their excitement! It was just incredible.
How would you assess your warm-up matches, which saw you get the better of Croatia and then take on Italy, one of the world’s top teams?
Firstly, we wanted to keep preparing for the elite round and gain experience. All in all, the results have been very positive, with our two victories against Croatia, including a nail-biting win on a power play. It shows our mental strength and our ability to rise to the challenge at the end of the match. Our next game was against Italy, who are eight on the [FIFA Futsal Women’s] World Ranking, compared to us being 60th. It’s fair to say that the pecking order was respected, but we really learnt a lot from these two matches, and we managed to make doubt creep in for them at times. The scores are very respectable too, with a 2-0 and a 5-1. I think we can be proud of ourselves. It’s hugely reassuring for the future.
Did your Italian team-mates give you a hard time when you got back to Milan?
Not at all! Far from it, they were actually full of praise for the team. They told me that we really were a physically-demanding team, which was not what they expected. I really got some great feedback from them. They know full well that the French team was only set up a year and a half ago. They could easily have made us feel like nobodies, but instead it was the complete opposite.
How do you think you will do in the elite round, facing daunting opponents including Spain?
Anything could happen, of course, but Spain are a seriously strong team. We look up to them in awe and can learn a lot from them. What impresses me about Spain is how patient they are on the pitch. Despite always playing at a high tempo, the girls give themselves time. They know how to find their rhythm, and that is a great quality. They are the clear favourites to take one of the two qualifying places, and we come up against them in the last game. We will be focussing on the matches against Poland and Finland, two teams we have already played. Our main aim is to qualify for the first World Cup. We‘re almost there! I think we can do it.
