Loïc Loval Landré (born 28 September 1981) is a former professional footballer who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. He spent most of his career in the Netherlands for

De Graafschap VBV De Graafschap () is a professional football club from Doetinchem, Netherlands, playing in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football. It was formed on 1 February 1954 and they play their home games at the De Vijverberg stadium. ...

Go Ahead Eagles Go Ahead Eagles () are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in the 2020-21 season. The club's h ...

and

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion Galgenwaard. The club was formed in 1970 as a merge ...

. Born in mainland France, he was an international for the Guadeloupean national team.

Early life

Loval was born in Longjumeau, a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. He grew up in neighbouring town Évry. When he was eleven, he moved with his mother and stepfather to

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

, where his parents hailed from.

Club career

Early career

Loval started at a youth player for a squad on Guadeloupe, and after a tournament in France with his team, several big French club showed their interest. He decided to play for a sport academy in Paris, and was contacted by Sochaux who signed him to their youth team. At Sochaux he, among others, was in a team with El Hadji Diouf, but after some years he left Sochaux. After some years playing for Valenciennes and Besançon, he was scouted by Cercle Brugge. He could sign a contract, but was persuaded by John van den Brom, scout for Dutch team,

, to sign for them.

Netherlands

Loval arrived in Doetinchem in 2003. His first season with De Graafschap was successful; he scored 3 goals in 25 matches, and clinched promotion with his team through the play-offs for promotion and relegation. After 19 matches and 5 goals in the Eredivisie, Loval signed with

in 2005, a club playing in the second-tier Eerste Divisie. In his first season for the club from

Deventer Deventer (; Sallands: ) is a city and municipality in the Salland historical region of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. In 2020, Deventer had a population of 100,913. The city is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, bu ...

, Loval immediately became club-topscorer with 11 goals in 30 games. He was now chased by several clubs in the highest Dutch league, but finally, on 27 January 2007 he signed a contract with

. He was originally signed as a midfielder, but got a place as a forward because of the lack of strikers. Loval had a contract that runs until 2011 with Utrecht, and stated that he would not play for any other Dutch club than FC Utrecht.

Return to France

In August 2010 he returned to France and signed with Vannes OC on a free transfer. It was announced that Loval left FC Utrecht due to personal reasons. In June 2015, Loval moved to Orléans where he made 35 appearances in which he scored 8 goals in two years, and subsequently signed for

FC Fleury 91 FC Fleury 91 is a French amateur association football club based in Fleury-Mérogis and competing in the Championnat National 2, the fourth tier of French football. In 2015 a petition was sent to mayor David Derroutet David (; , "belo ...

, where he played in

Championnat de France Amateur The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of the French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligue ...

for the 2015–16 season; his final season playing football.

International career

Guadeloupe

Loval made his debut for

at the CONCACAF Gold Cup Finals in June 2007 against

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

together with former FC Utrecht-teammate,

Franck Grandel Franck Grandel (born 17 March 1978) is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Born in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, Grandel started his career with Club Colonial on Martinique. He made his professional ...

. He also played at the 2008 Caribbean Cup.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Guadeloupe's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Loval goal.''

References

External links

* '' Voetbal International'', Monologue: Loïc Loval, 30 May 2007
Career stats
– Voetbal International

– L'Equipe * {{DEFAULTSORT:Loval, Loic 1981 births Living people French footballers French expatriate footballers Guadeloupean footballers FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players Racing Besançon players De Graafschap players Go Ahead Eagles players FC Utrecht players Vannes OC players FC Mulhouse players US Orléans players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Ligue 2 players 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands French expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands French people of Guadeloupean descent Association football forwards People from Longjumeau Footballers from Essonne FC Fleury 91 players Guadeloupe international footballers