Lucas Eugène Chevalier (born 6 November 2001) 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

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 ...

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 ...

Club career

Chevalier is a youth academy graduate of

. He was third-choice goalkeeper of club behind

Mike Maignan Mike Peterson Maignan (; born 3 July 1995) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Serie A club AC Milan, which he captains, and the France national football team, ...

and

Orestis Karnezis Orestis-Spyridon Karnezis (; born 11 July 1985) is a Greek former professional association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Club career Panathinaikos Born in Athens, but grew up in Corfu, Karne ...

during their league title winning

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 ...

season. In July 2021, he joined

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

club

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

on a season long loan deal. He made his professional debut for the club on 18 September 2021 in a 1–1 draw against Pau. On 10 September 2022, Chevalier made his professional debut for his boyhood club with a strong performance against

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. A few weeks later, on 9 October, he stopped a penalty kick and made decisive saves in Lille 1–0 home win over

Derby du Nord The Derby du Nord (, ) is a football rivalry contested between French clubs Lille OSC and RC Lens, two of the region's most successful clubs. Both clubs are located in northern France, though in different departments: Lille in the Nord and Lens ...

rivals

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

. He was praised for his performance that earned him a rating of 8/10 in ''

La Voix du Nord ''La Voix du Nord'' (; or 'The Voice of Nord') is a regional daily newspaper from the north of France. Its headquarters are in Lille. History ''Voix du Nord'' was one of the underground newspapers of the French Resistance founded in German- ...

'' and a spot in ''

L'Équipe ''L'Équipe'' (, French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of association football, rugby, motorsport, and cycling. Its predecessor, '' ...

s Team of the Week. After the game, he told to Prime Video Sport pundit

Thierry Henry Thierry Daniel Henry (; born 17 August 1977) is a French professional football coach, pundit, sports broadcaster and former player. He is considered one of the greatest players of all time and widely regarded as the greatest player in Premi ...

that former Lille keeper Mike Maignan phoned him before the game to advise and encourage him. In January 2023, Chevalier extended his contract with Lille until June 2027. On 2 October 2024, in his third season as Lille starting goalkeeper, he took part in the 1-0 home win against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

in the

2024–25 UEFA Champions League league phase The 2024–25 UEFA Champions League league phase began on 17 September 2024 and ended on 29 January 2025. A total of 36 teams competed in the league phase to decide the 24 places in the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League knockout phase, knockout pha ...

. Being one of the best Lille players on the pitch, his performance was praised by various national and international media including ''L'Équipe'' which gave him a rare rating of 9/10 after the match.

International career

Chevalier is a former French youth international. He has appeared for under-16 and under-18 teams in friendlies. In 2024, he was called up to the

France Olympic football team The France Olympic football team, also known as the France national under-23 football team, represents France in international football competitions in Olympic Games. It has been active since 1948, and first competed in 1948. Olympic football was ...

for the Olympics football tournament in a preliminary list alongside his Lille teammates

Bafodé Diakité Bafodé Diakité (born 6 January 2001) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football), defender for Ligue 1 club Lille OSC, Lille. Early life Bafodé Diakité was born on 6 January 2001 ...

and

Leny Yoro Leny Jean-Luc Yoro (born 13 November 2005) is a French professional association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Manchester United F.C., Manchester United. A Lille OSC, Lille academy graduate, Yoro joined the club as a ...

. However, the three players were eventually retained by their club due to the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round played in August before the start of the Ligue 1 season. On 7 November 2024, Chevalier received his first call-up to the France national team.

Career statistics

Honours

France *

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

third place: 2024–25 Individual * UNFP Ligue 1 Goalkeeper of the Year: 2024–25 * UNFP Ligue 1

Team of the Year Team of the Year may refer to: * BBC Sports Personality of the Year Team Award * Canadian Press Team of the Year Award *GPA Gaelic Team of the Year * IRB International Sevens Team of the Year * IRB International Team of the Year * J.League Team of ...

: 2024–25

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chevalier, Lucas 2001 births Living people Sportspeople from Calais Footballers from Pas-de-Calais French men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Lille OSC players Valenciennes FC players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National 3 players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players France men's youth international footballers France men's under-21 international footballers 21st-century French sportsmen