William Vainqueur

William Jacques Vainqueur (born 19 November 1988) is a French professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. He mostly plays as a central or defensive midfielder position. He is currently a free agent since leaving Antalyaspor in 2020.

Club Career

FC Nantes

Born in Neuilly-sur-Marne, a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Vainqueur joined Noisy-le-Grand FC at the age of 8. In 2001, he moved to the youth system of AJ Auxerre and spent one year there, before being released. After his release by Auxerre, he continued to train, to work on himself, leading to re–join Bussy-Saint-Georges FC. There, he was discovered at the age 14 by FC Nantes. However, joining FC Nantes saw him Vainqueur move away, as he saw them once every month.

Having progressed through the youth system at Nantes, Vainqueur made his senior debut during the 2006–07 Ligue 1 season, which came against Olympique de Marseille, where he started the match before coming off in the 69th minute for Milos Dimitrijevic, in a 0–0 draw on 18 February 2007. He soon become involved in a number of matches following an absent of Alioum Saidou, though he faced setback with injury. Although the club were eventually relegated to Ligue 2 at the end of the season, Vainqueur went on to make ten appearances for the side and signed his first professional contract with the Ligue 1 club shortly after.

However, ahead of the 2007–08 season, Vainqueur was sidelined for six months after rupturing his cruciate ligaments on his right knee while on duty for France U19. By January, he returned to training after being on the sidelines. However, he suffered another injury with a broken cruciate ligament. It wasn't until on 10 March 2008 when he made his first appearance of the season, coming on as a substitute, in a 1–0 win over Grenoble Foot.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Вильям Венкёр (russian)