Benjamin Michel Édouard André (born 3 August 1990) 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 central and

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for club

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

, for which he serves as the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Club career

Ajaccio

André was with the

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

-based club Ajaccio since he was 16 years old, joining the club as an academy player after arriving from his hometown of

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (commonly shortened to PACA), also known as Région Sud, is one of the eighteen Regions of France, administrative regions of France, located at the far southeastern point of the Metropolitan France, mainland. The main P ...

. After gaining notice playing on the club's under-18 side, he was promoted to the senior squad for the 2008–09 season, despite being only 17 years old at the time of the promotion. André appeared sparingly early on in the season making his debut on 22 August 2008 against Sedan appearing as a substitute in a 1–1 draw. He earned his first start 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 on 22 November 2008 against amateur side Bagnols Pont playing 120 minutes. The match went into a

penalty shootout 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 ...

with the young André converting Ajaccio's final shootout goal ensuring the club's advancement to the next round. Five days later, he made his first league start in a 2–0 defeat to

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; ; ; or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Hauts-de-France, Northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Pas-de-Calais. Boul ...

. Throughout the season, his starts increased and, despite Ajaccio's inconsistent play, became an instant revelation helping the club reach the Round of 16 of the Coupe de France. He scored his first career goal of the season on the final match day of the season against

Châteauroux Châteauroux ( ; ; ) is the capital city of the French department of Indre, central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called ''Castelroussins'' () in French. Climate Châteauroux te ...

in a 2–1 loss. His best season with Ajaccio was the

2013–14 Ligue 1 The 2013–14 Ligue 1 was the 76th season since its establishment. The season began on 9 August 2013 and ended on 17 May 2014. Paris Saint-Germain were the defending champions. As in the previous years, Adidas provided the official ball for all ...

season. Although Ajaccio were relegated, he provided four goals and five assists across all competitions.

Rennes

In the summer transfer market of 2014, André signed with

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

after six years at Ajaccio. On 25 January 2015, he scored his first goal for Stade Rennais in a 4–1 loss against

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

. On 27 April 2019, he won the

2018–19 Coupe de France The 2018–19 Coupe de France was the 102nd season of the main football cup competition of France. The competition was organised by the French Football Federation (FFF) and was open to all clubs in French football, as well as clubs from the over ...

as Rennes beat league champions

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 the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, playing the full 120 minutes and lifting the trophy as the team captain.

Lille

On 17 July 2019, André signed a four-year deal with

, for a reported €8 million transfer fee. For his first season with Lille, he played his first

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

games. André quickly became an important player for Lille. He showed himself as a consistent performer and their midfield linchpin, as they won their fourth

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

title during the 2020–21 season, playing 35 league games and emerging as the team vice-captain. Therefore, he was named in the UNFP Team of the Year. During the

2021–22 Lille OSC season The 2021–22 season was the 78th season in the existence of Lille OSC and the club's 22nd consecutive season in the top flight of Football in France, French football. In addition to the 2021–22 Ligue 1, domestic league, Lille participated in thi ...

, he participated in the 1–0 win against PSG in the

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the Super cup, super cups found in many other count ...

, with the club winning that trophy for the first time ever. Later, he helped the team to get out of the

2021–22 UEFA Champions League The 2021–22 UEFA Champions League was the 67th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 30th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Real Madrid de ...

group stage and played against Chelsea in

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. On 7 August 2022, André started off the new season under new head coach

Paulo Fonseca Paulo Alexandre Rodrigues Fonseca (born 5 March 1973) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player who played as a central defender. He is currently manager of Ligue 1 club ...

by scoring Lille's first goal in a 4–1 victory over

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

on the league opening weekend, 36 seconds after kick-off. On 12 January 2023, he extended his contract with Lille until 2026. At the end of the season, he became the team's

after

José Fonte José Miguel da Rocha Fonte (born 22 December 1983) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for and captains Primeira Liga club Casa Pia. He started his professional career with Sporting CP B, moving to England with ...

's departure. On 2 March 2024, he played his 400th

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

game in a 0–1 away win against

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 ...

Personal life

André was born in France to a Senegalese mother and a French father.

Career statistics

Honours

Rennes *

: 2018–19 Lille *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Individual * UNFP Ligue 1 Team of the Year:

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Andre, Benjamin 1990 births Living people Footballers from Nice French men's footballers Men's association football midfielders AC Ajaccio players Stade Rennais FC players Lille OSC players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players France men's under-21 international footballers French sportspeople of Senegalese descent 21st-century French sportsmen