Samuel Souprayen (born 18 February 1989) 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 for

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

club Melbourne City. He plays as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

capable of playing on the left side of defense, as well. He is a former France youth international having earned caps with the under-18, under-19, under-20, and under-21 teams. Souprayen played with the under-20 team at the

2009 Mediterranean Games The 2009 Mediterranean Games, officially the XVI Mediterranean Games () and commonly known as Pescara 2009, was a multi-sport event held in Pescara, Italy, from 26 June to 5 July 2009. It was governed by the International Committee of Mediterran ...

Club career

Souprayen was born in

Saint-Benoît, Réunion Saint-Benoît () is a commune in the French overseas department of Réunion, in the Indian Ocean. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Réunion, about 40 kilometres southeast of Saint-Denis, the capital. Geography It is the secon ...

, but grew in the city of

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

in the

Rhône-Alpes Rhône-Alpes () was an administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the river Rhône a ...

region. He began his football career with CASCOL Oullins in the commune of

Oullins Oullins () is a former Communes of France, commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in eastern France. It is a suburb of the city of Lyon, and is adjacent to it on the southwest. On 1 January 2024, Oul ...

. He later joined the youth academy of

Stade Rennais Stade Rennais Football Club (SRFC, ), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais () or simply Rennes,''Rennais'' and ''Stade Rennes'', used by some English-speaking media outlets and journalists, are not grammatically correct names for the club. is ...

. At Rennes, he was

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 ...

of both the youth sides that won the under-18 championship for the 2006–07 season, and the

Coupe Gambardella The Coupe Gambardella is a French football cup competition held between the under-18s of the French football clubs, organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). The cup is regarded as an opportunity for young hopefuls to showcase their s ...

in 2008. On 17 July 2008, he signed his first professional contract agreeing to a three-year deal through 2011. He was officially promoted to the senior team for the 2008–09 season and was assigned the number 4 shirt by manager

Guy Lacombe Guy Hubert Georges Lacombe (born 13 June 1955) is a French football manager and former professional player. Playing career Lacombe was a member of the French squad that won the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. ...

. Though on the first team, Souprayen only saw playing time with the club's

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 French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligue 2 ...

team appearing in 31 matches, starting 30 of them, helping the side finish 1st among professional clubs in their group, thus qualifying for the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, where they lost to

in the semi-finals. After playing with the reserves for the first four matches of the 2009–10 season, Rennes decided it would be best to send the player on loan to

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

Dijon FCO Dijon Football Côte d'Or (; ), commonly referred to as Dijon FCO or simply as Dijon, is a French Football in France, football club based in Dijon. The club was founded in 1998 as a result of a merger between two local clubs in the city, and co ...

for the entire season. At Dijon, Souprayen was assigned the number 19 shirt and made his professional debut on 11 September in the club's 1–0 win over

Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...

playing the entire 90 minutes. Following the season, on 15 May, Rennes manager

Frédéric Antonetti Frédéric Antonetti (born 19 August 1961) is a French professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of French club Strasbourg. He previously managed Bastia, Gamba Osaka, Saint-Étienne, Nice, Rennes and Lille. ...

confirmed that Souprayen would return to the team and that he would be heavily relied upon for the 2010–11 season. On 21 July, Rennes rewarded the player with a two-year contract extension tying him to the club until 2013. After featuring in only 16 league matches in the 2010–11 season, in June 2011, Souprayen signed a four-year contract with newly promoted first division club Dijon. The defender had previously spent the 2009–10 season on loan at the club. On 17 August 2018, Souprayen signed with French club

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 23 July 2021, Souprayen signed a two-year contract as a free agent with

Bulgarian First League The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

club

Botev Plovdiv Profesionalen Futbolen Klub Botev AD, commonly referred to as Botev Plovdiv (, ), or simply Botev (within its associated city), is a Bulgarian professional Association football, football club based in Plovdiv. It competes in the First Professiona ...

International career

Born in

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

, Souprayen is of Malagasy descent. Souprayen has played with both the under-18 team and the under-19 team playing with the squad that fail to qualify for the

2008 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship The final tournament of the 2008 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the 24th UEFA European Under-19 Championship, UEFA's premier competition for players under the age of 19. The tournament was held in the Czech Republic with matches played fro ...

. On 26 May 2009, he was named to the under-20 squad to play in the

. He participated in two of the team's four matches as France finished in 4th-place position.

Career statistics

Career

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Souprayen, Samuel 1989 births Living people Footballers from Lyon French men's footballers France men's under-21 international footballers France men's youth international footballers French sportspeople of Malagasy descent Men's association football defenders Men's footballers from Réunion Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Serie A players Serie B players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players A-League Men players Stade Rennais FC players Dijon FCO players Hellas Verona FC players AJ Auxerre players Botev Plovdiv players Melbourne City FC players French expatriate men's footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy French expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria French expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Competitors at the 2009 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games competitors for France 21st-century French sportsmen