Louisa Nécib Cadamuro (; born 23 January 1987) is a French former professional footballer who played for the France national team. She spent the majority of her career at Lyon, amassing eighteen titles with the French club over a nine-year span. She played as an attacking midfielder and was described as a "gifted playmaker" who "possesses superb technique". Nécib is also known for her "elegant possession, sublime passing skills, and cultured touch on the ball".
She has been labeled by the French media as "the female Zidane" – like Zinedine Zidane, she has Algerian ancestry, grew up in Marseille and possesses immense skill, especially as a playmaker with an eye for goal. As such, she has been nicknamed "Ziza", a variant of Zidane's "Zizou". In an interview with FIFA.com just before the 2012 Olympics, she alluded to the comparison, saying, "Zidane is a role model for me. He was always the player that I most enjoyed watching. The comparison was made frequently when I was starting out, and now, as the years pass, it happens less and less often. But I wouldn't say I’m tired of it." She often attempts to downplay the comparison, though, stating "Being compared to Zidane is really nice, but I don't think it can harm me because I’ve been hearing it since I was very young. It always makes me proud, but as I always say, I don't think you can compare anyone to him. He's unique". While training at the Clairefontaine academy in 2004, Nécib met Zidane, who was at the training center in preparation for qualifying for the 2006 World Cup (the finals would eventually be his last act as a professional). The two players exchanged shirts, and the shirt Nécib acquired from Zidane is currently in the possession of her father.
Nécib began her football career playing for local youth clubs in her hometown of Marseille, such as Union Sportive Marseille and Celtic de Marseille. With the latter club, she made her senior team debut in 2003 and, in the following season, helped the club win the Division 3 Féminine. In 2004, Nécib was selected to attend CNFE Clairefontaine, the women's section of the Clairefontaine academy. She spent two years at the training center, and in 2006, departed for Montpellier of the Division 1 Féminine. In her only season with Montpellier, Nécib helped the team win the 2006–07 edition of the Challenge de France. After departing Montpellier, she joined Lyon. Since joining the club, Nécib has won a slew of trophies, which include four league titles, one Challenge de France, and one UEFA Women's Champions League title. For her performances during the 2008–09 season, she was named the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP) Female Player of the Year.
Nécib is a former French women's youth international having represented her nation at all levels for which she was eligible. At under-19 level, she played on the teams that reached the 2004 and 2005 editions of the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship. With the under-20 team, Nécib played at the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship scoring a goal in the group stage against Argentina as France reached the quarter-finals. Prior to playing in the U-20 Women's World Cup, Nécib made her senior international debut in February 2005 in a friendly match against Norway. Two years later in March 2007, Nécib scored her first senior international goal in a UEFA Women's Euro 2009 qualifying victory over Greece. She has participated in five major international tournaments for her country; the 2005 and 2009 editions of UEFA Women's Euro and the 2011 and 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2012 Summer Olympics. In the latter competition, Nécib acted as the playmaker and contributed to the team that finished in fourth place.
Club career
Early career
Nécib began her career as a youth player for her hometown club Union Sportive de Marseille. After spending two years at the club, she signed on with nearby Celtic de Marseille. Nécib spent six months developing in the academy and, in April 2002, she was selected to attend the under-16 female National Cup representing her region. The competition served as a training camp for the Centre National de Formation et d'Entraînement (CNFE) () located at the Clairefontaine academy in Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines. The initiative to allow women to train at the famous national center came about in the 1990s due to the fact that it had quickly become a high-level training facility for male football players. As a result of allowing female football players to train at the academy, younger women were afforded the same benefits from the facilities offered by Clairefontaine as the men. At the National Cup, Nécib impressed and was given an award by coaches for possessing the best shot of any player. After the competition, she returned to Celtic.
At the age of 16, Nécib was promoted to the senior team by coach Yohan Silvy in the latter part of the 2002–03 season. While at the club, Nécib was teammates with future national teammate Caroline Pizzala. In the 2003–04 season, Nécib flourished and helped the club reach the Division 3 Féminine league final where they faced the women's team of professional men's club Le Mans. In the tie, Nécib started and played the full match as Celtic cruised to a 4–1 victory. The result promoted the club to the Division 2 Féminine, the second division of French women's football. Nécib's performance that season attracted numerous attention, which resulted in her being nicknamed Titou as homage to Zinedine Zidane, who is nicknamed Zizou.
After three years with Celtic, in July 2004, Nécib was selected to attend the CNFE academy at Clairefontaine. She initially struggled to adapt at the center admitting "the first year was really hard because I was so far from my family. I almost gave up". However, after developing a rapport with future international teammates Sarah Bouhaddi, Élodie Thomis, Laure Boulleau, Jessica Houara, and the aforementioned Pizzala, Nécib quickly returned to the form that got her selected to the center. The CNFE academy is allowed participation in the French women's football league system and, from 2002 to 2007, fielded a team that participated in the Division 1 Féminine. Nécib spent two seasons with the team and made her league debut on 29 August 2004 against Lyon. In the match, she scored the only goal, a 90th-minute winner, in a 1–0 win. Nécib finished the campaign with 20 league appearances and six goals. Four of her six goals came in the final four weeks of the season. On 26 March 2005, she scored a double in a 4–2 defeat to Juvisy. A week later, she scored the only goal in a win over Olympique Saint-Memmie and, on the final match day of the season, she scored the team's fourth goal in a 5–1 win over Lyon. CNFE ultimately finished the campaign in 5th-place position. In the following season, Nécib appeared in 18 matches and scored three goals, all of which came in victories.
Montpellier After completing her education and training at Clairefontaine, Nécib returned to the south of France to sign with Division 1 Féminine club Montpellier. She joined the club alongside former Clairefontaine teammate Thomis and made her debut on 3 September 2006 in a 0–0 league draw with Toulouse. She scored her first goal for the club two weeks later on 17 September converting a double in a 5–0 away win over USCO Compiègne. On 8 October, Nécib scored the second goal in a 2–0 victory against Soyaux. In November, she scored two goals each in wins over FCF Condé-sur-Noireau and Hénin-Beaumont. Nécib finished the campaign with 11 league goals, which was third-best on the team behind Thomis and Elodie Ramos. In the Challenge de France, the women's domestic cup competition in France, Nécib helped Montpellier reach the final where the team faced Lyon. She played the entire match as Montpellier won 3–0 on penalties. The domestic cup title was Nécib's first major honour of her career.
Lyon Following the season, on 22 June 2007, Lyon officials announced that the club had signed both Nécib and Thomis to contracts. Nécib was handed the number 14 shirt and made her club debut on 2 September 2007 in the team's opening league match of the campaign; a 4–0 win over La Roche-sur-Yon. A week later, she scored her first goal for Lyon converting a penalty kick in a 2–0 win against Paris Saint-Germain. Nécib also made her debut in European competition participating in the 2007–08 edition of the UEFA Women's Cup. On her debut against the women's team of Slovak outfit Slovan Duslo Šaľa in the group stage, Nécib netted a hat trick in a 12–0 win. She ultimately finished the European campaign appearing in ten matches and scoring six goals as Lyon reached the semi-finals where the club was eliminated by Swedish club Umeå. While simultaneously performing well in Europe, Nécib remained productive in the league scoring in league wins over Toulouse, Hénin-Beaumont, and Soyaux late in the season. Lyon eventually pulled away from both Juvisy and Montpellier in the league standings to claim its second straight league title and Nécib's first overall. Nécib later helped Lyon capture its third Challenge de France, which completed the club's league and cup double that season. She scored the second goal in a 3–0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the final match.
During the infancy of the 2008–09 season, Nécib was selected to join the new United States-based women's soccer league, Women's Professional Soccer, after her American playing rights were assigned to the Washington Freedom in the 2008 WPS International Draft. Her Lyon teammate Sonia Bompastor was also assigned to the Freedom. While Bompastor was allowed to negotiate her exit out of the club, Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas was able to convince Nécib to remain in France after having previously declared the player off limits. Nécib scored her first league goal of the campaign on 14 September 2008 in a 12–0 home win over Vendenheim. A month later, she scored a double in an 8–1 victory over Soyaux. Nécib repeated her two-goal display on 1 February 2009 in a 5–0 away win over Stade Briochin. In the UEFA Women's Cup, Nécib scored her first two goals of the campaign in an 8–0 home win over Austrian club Neulengbach in a second qualifying round group stage match. On 18 November, she scored the third goal in a 4–1 second leg win over Italian club Bardolino. The 9–1 aggregate scoreline advanced Lyon to the semi-finals for the second consecutive season where Lyon were again eliminated, this time by German team FCR 2001 Duisburg. In the league, Lyon captured its third straight league title, but was unable to defend its Challenge de France title losing to the eventual champions Montpellier in the semi-finals. For her performances during the campaign, Nécib was named the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP) Female Player of the Year.