She Kicks a Beat: Lara’s Continental Kickback to Jams Eternal (Lara Dickenmann interview)

Two-time Champions League winner Lara Dickenmann, over a hundred caps for Switzerland, talks music and career with Chris Brookes. Her mother ran a fitness studio and recorded her own tapes, so she grew up on nineties pop-electro and Bravo Hits compilations, and the first album she bought herself was Tracy Chapman. She recalls Wendie Renard and Elodie Thomis running the Lyon dressing room, where zouk, French rap and dancehall played, and Noelle Maritz doing the same at Wolfsburg. The piece also traces her path from an Under-19 call-up to Ohio State University, her goal in the 2011 Champions League final against Turbine Potsdam, and the treble under Patrice Lair, before she assembles an imaginary six-piece band of team-mates.