William Vainqueur

FC Nantes

Born in Neuilly-sur-Marne, a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Vainqueur joined Noisy-le-Grand FC at the age of 8. In 2001, he moved to the youth system of AJ Auxerre and spent one year there, before being released. After his release by Auxerre, Vainqueur continued to train, to work on himself, leading to re–join Bussy-Saint-Georges FC. There, he was discovered at the age 14 by FC Nantes's scout team. However, moving to Nantes in Pays de la Loire saw Vainqueur move away, as he saw his family once every month. Having progressed through the youth system at Nantes, Vainqueur made his senior debut during the 2006–07 Ligue 1 season, where he started the match before coming off in the 69th minute for Miloš Dimitrijević, in a 0–0 draw against Olympique de Marseille on 18 February 2007. Vainqueur soon become involved in a number of matches following an absent of Alioum Saidou, though he faced setback with injury. However, the club were eventually relegated to Ligue 2 at the end of the season after losing 1–0 against Bordeaux on 9 May 2007. At the end of the 2006–07 season, Vainqueur went on to make ten appearances for FC Nantes. Shortly after, he signed his first professional contract with the Ligue 1 club shortly. However, ahead of the 2007–08 season, Vainqueur was out for six months after rupturing his cruciate ligaments on his right knee while on duty for France U19. By January, he returned to training after being on the sidelines. However, he suffered…

Vainqueur is eligible to play for either France and Haiti. It was made clear that Vainqueur was interested playing for France, but was never called up.

Youth career

Vainquerer made his first called up in April 2007 for the France U19 for a match against Congo U19. However, his appearance in a 5–2 win over Serbia U19 on 16 July 2007 saw him played 28 minutes after rupturing his cruciate ligaments on his right knee. He went on to make three appearances for the France U19 side. In March 2009, Vainqueur was called up to the France U21 squad. He made his France U21 debut on 27 March 2009, where he started the match, in a 3–0 win over Estonia U21.

Vainqueur is of Haitian descent. Growing up, he revealed that he spent his holidays, going to Haiti. Growing up in Neuilly-sur-Marne, a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Vainqueur revealed that he grew in dangerous part of Neuilly-sur-Marne and saw his friends doing drugs or ended up in hospital. He has stated that if he didn't made it as a footballer, he wanted it to become an architect and designer. Vainqueur is Muslim. He speaks French and English. In September 2008, Vainqueur became a father for the first time, when his girlfriend gave birth to a baby girl, Kayci. Six years later, he became a father for a second time with a baby boy, Kayes. His father-in-law is Abdoulaye Ka. During his time at Dynamo Moscow, Igor Tsarush, commenting on racism in Russia, said that "Somehow Vainqueur asked why there are so few black people on the streets? I explained to him that when France conquered the colonies, it did it in Africa. That Russia had union republics, and we have more residents from there." Commenting on Moscow in July 2015, Vainqueur said: "Moscow is not at all what exists in the stereotypes of many Europeans. It is commonly believed that this is an old city, cold, somewhat archaic. In any case, this image was formed before my first visit to Russia. As soon as I flew to Moscow, I realized what kind of nonsense this was." On 23 February 2020, Vainqueur’s home was robbed whilst playing for Toulouse against LOSC Lille.