1. She’s played with Viviane Asseyi at Club level before
Inès Belloumou becomes the fourth player from France to play for the women’s team since we joined the Barclays Women’s Super League, after Kenza Dali, Hawa Cissoko and Viviane Asseyi, and she has played with her now teammate Asseyi before.
Asseyi was on the pitch when Belloumou made her professional debut for Marseille on 13 May 2018, when she came off the bench in a heavy defeat to Lyon!
Belloumou also revealed in her first interview with West Ham TV that she had spoken to both Asseyi and Cissoko before making the decision to head to east London.
She said: “I’ve been speaking with the Club for a long time now and I felt I had to come here. I’ve spoken with the French players who I know well, Vivi [Asseyi] and Hawa [Cissoko], and they both said, 'Inès, you have to come. You will not be disappointed'. They said the Club is a big family and I’m already really excited to meet everyone."
2. She’s a winner with Bayern Munich
The attacking defender left her native France to join Bayern Munich in the Frauen-Bundesliga in July 2023, where she played her part in securing the side's sixth league title.
Belloumou played a total of 12 times across all competitions for the Bavarian outfit, including two matches in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Bayern clinched their second title in as many seasons by finishing the domestic season unbeaten, scoring 60 goals and conceding only eight times.
Belloumou celebrated with the team on the final day of the season against Hoffenheim and got her hands on the first major trophy of her career.
3. She began playing football at the age of five
Like many female football players, when Belloumou was starting out on her footballing journey, she had to begin by playing with boys.
She began at age five, when she joined her local side FC Martigues, a lower-league club which has produced France internationals like André-Pierre Gignac and Rod Fanni.
She spent just under ten years in the mixed-sex teams before she had to make the move to a female-only side. She opted to make the move along the coast to Marseille.
She also joined the National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance [INSEP] in Paris, and she travelled from the capital back to Marseille for matches at weekends.
4. She comes from a sporting-rich family
Inès is the youngest of six children, and has two brothers and three sisters. Sport has been a big part of the family’s life, and she discovered her love for football because of the influence of her older brothers.
The eldest, Badradine, has now retired from football, but when Inès was growing up, he was playing for their local side FC Martigues and other Clubs in the second division of France. Her other brother Samir still plays for FC Martigues and captains the side. Her three sisters all played handball in France, too!
5. She will head to Italy before wearing the Claret & Blue
West Ham supporters will have a to wait a little while longer to see the flying full-back in action.
Belloumou is heading to SS Lazio on a season-long-loan deal for 2024/25, where she will accumulate the necessary points to meet the Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) criteria for international player visas.
Lazio have just been promoted to the top division of women’s football in Italy, Serie A, for the first time in their history, and Belloumou will be hoping to help the Rome-based outfit to a strong finish in their debut season at that level.
