Midfielder on being left out of France’s Euro 2025 squad, her exit from Aston Villa and a new lease of life in San Diego
‘I had hard times and this team really gave me back my love and motivation for football,” Kenza Dali says of San Diego Wave as she prepares to open up on a turbulent year.
Over the course of a refreshingly honest conversation, the midfielder reveals why she left Aston Villa to move to the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in January, details why she is enjoying working under Jonas Eidevall and discusses, for the first time, the grief that affected her participation in the Olympics. There is, however, one topic on which she is not quite ready to go into details yet.
The 33-year-old, who has 76 caps for France, was one of three experienced stars – alongside the former captain Wendie Renard and Eugénie Le Sommer – left out when head coach Laurent Bonadei named his squad for the European Championship. Dali is clearly saddened by the situation but does not want a war of words to distract her compatriots as they prepare for the tournament. “I will tell my side of the story after the Euros, for only one reason – it’s because I have too much respect for my teammates to put the spotlight on a decision that is difficult to accept because I think there are a lot of lies,” she says.
