The center of Clermont, Wesley Fofana (34), announced on social networks the end of his career, marked by 48 selections for the France team, but marred in recent seasons by numerous injuries. “After fifteen years with ASM (Clermont Auvergne) and the beautiful family of French rugby, a new page is turning for me. The last two years have sometimes been difficult to manage. An obvious observation that my body no longer cashed the level of requirement that professional rugby now requires. I therefore make the choice to anticipate the end of my career, “he explained on his Twitter account, Monday, July 18.
Wesley Fofana’s contract in Clermont was still running for the 2022-2023 season, which begins on September 3. But on May 4, he suffered a new injury, against Stade Français, resulting in an operation on the tendon of the right biceps. Between 2008 and 2022, Wesley Fofana, born in Paris and trained at the USO Massif Central then at the Paris University club, only knew one club during his professional career. He was also a key player in the XV of France in the 2010s, in which he often shone, despite the decline of the Blues in the world order of rugby at this time.
With the Blues, Wesley Fofana played in six Six Nations Tournaments in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019. During his 48 selections, he scored fifteen tries, including a few individual exploits, such as the one during the defeat ( 23-13) against England in the 2013 Tournament. Served in front of the 22 meters of the Blues, Fofana had resisted no less than five tackle attempts before flattening in the in-goal of the XV de la Rose. That year, the Blues of Philippe Saint-André, had nevertheless finished the Tournament in last place. With ASM, the Parisian had more success: he was crowned French champion twice (2010, 2017), played in two finals (2015, 2019), won the European Challenge (2019) and played in three cup finals of Europe (2013, 2015, 2017).
Victim of a ruptured left Achilles tendon in January 2017 which kept him away from the field for nine months, Wesley Fofana was again seriously injured at the end of the same year, in December, when he was diagnosed with a cervical hernia, an injury that could have paralyzed him for life. These serious repeated injuries had precipitated the end of his international career even before the start of the 2019 World Cup in Japan for which he was selected. They are now pushing him to the end of his club career, a year before the end of his contract with ASM.