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Kevin Spadanuda (left) has been playing for Ajaccio in Ligue 1 since the summer of 2022 – the culmination of an unprecedented football fairy tale.
Sebastian WendellReporter football
When Kevin Spadanuda and girlfriend Cristiana were looking for holiday destinations in spring 2022, Corsica was also shortlisted. Unaware that a few weeks later the dream island for the couple and daughter Naiara will become much more than a place to relax: they have been living here since summer. Spadanuda is a professional at Ligue 1 club AC Ajaccio.
After two months, the three of them in a cramped hotel room, the family found an apartment away from the old town. Spadanuda (25) guides Blick through the pretty apartment during the video interview and says: “I want to keep improving my sport. But I also enjoy drinking my coffee with a view of the sea every morning. It’s the reward for everything I’ve had to go through.”
Tears flow after the shock of the injury
The move to France is the culmination of an unprecedented football fairy tale. As a teenager, Spadanuda, like many of his peers, was pursuing the dream of becoming a professional when he was on the ground after a duel in the U18s at FC Aarau and simply couldn’t get up. The back. A number of visits to the doctor followed, without a diagnosis, until one of them told Spadanuda that he could finish with competitive sports. Many tears flow, also from his parents. After accepting his (supposed) destiny, Spadanuda begins an apprenticeship in logistics and gets a subscription to the fitness center to alleviate the urge to move. Lo and behold: The strength training relieves the nagging back pain.
At some point, the desire to play football comes back, and Spadanuda registers for a chat with FC Schinznach. 4th league, the second lowest in Switzerland. Four years later, three of them at FC Aarau in the Challenge League, he plays in Ligue 1 together with PSG stars Messi, Mbappé and Neymar. Spadanuda makes the impossible possible in seven-league boots.
From the Challenge League to Ligue 1
Does he sometimes wonder where his path as a footballer could have led without a break? “No. I’m convinced: Without what I experienced, I wouldn’t be here now.” Spadanuda scored 18 goals for Aarau last season, but after just missing out on promotion he could still have gone into the Super League. When the offer comes from Ajaccio, he stops all other talks. From the Challenge League straight into the (then still) league of the world champions – Spadanuda’s eyes still shine at the thought of it. Although only intended as a reconnaissance trip, he signs a three-year contract on his first visit to the city and club grounds. “When I went to a café afterwards, three fans came up to me, although I hadn’t touched a ball as an Ajaccio player,” he says and laughs.
The fact that he travels to every away game in the club’s own charter jet, that dozens of photographers are waiting on arrival at the stadiums, that he arrives at the famous Stade Vélodrome in Marseille in front of 63,000 spectators – Spadanuda felt like a boy in France in the first few months Lego paradise, who until then had to make his own toys. In terms of sport, things went better than expected at first, but after an injury he only played once before the winter break.
«In the Challenge League I was one of the fastest. Here, every teammate is a rocket. But I always felt like I could keep up,” he says. The second half of the season starts on Wednesday, for which Spadanuda has set himself two personal goals: to learn French in order to be able to communicate better with coach Olivier Pantaloni. And to meet Messi, Mbappé and Neymar on the pitch in Paris’ Parc des Princes in mid-May. In the first leg he was not in the squad. Yes, even in a fairy tale things don’t always go smoothly.
Ligue 1 22/23
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10 |
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11 |
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12 |
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13 |
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14 |
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15 |
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18 |
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19 |
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20 |
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