There are stories that go beyond the simple framework of football, trajectories that make and will make young people dream. That of Robin Risser is clearly one of them. At only 21 years old, the RC Lens goalkeeper is preparing to experience a complete change in his young career: a call-up to the French team for the 2026 World Cup. The Colmar native is part of Didier Deschamps’ list as third goalkeeper and will fly to North America (United States, Canada, Mexico). A meteoric rise, almost unreal, for a player who, until recently, was playing far from the spotlight and the very high international level…
His performance over the last two seasons gives the measure of what he has just achieved. In 2023-2024, Robin Risser still defended Dijon’s goals in the National, with 30 matches played as a starter in a demanding and uncompromising championship. The following season, he took the first step by joining Red Star in Ligue 2, continuing his apprenticeship in a more structured context, but still quite far from the elite. Between these stages, his passage through the Strasbourg reserve did not make it possible to retain him permanently, Liam Rosenior notably believing that his limits in the kicking game did not correspond to the club’s expectations. A decision which, today, appears almost like a detour in a trajectory which ended up being written elsewhere.
The dream came true in Lens
It was at RC Lens that everything accelerated. Under the orders of Pierre Sage, Robin Risser established himself in his first season as an indisputable starter in a team that was nevertheless ambitious, engaged on several tables and qualified for the Champions League and also for the final of the Coupe de France, which will be played against Nice at the Stade de France. Match after match, he gained in confidence and maturity, becoming one of the most regular elements of the Lens squad. His rise to power was crowned by a strong distinction: the title of best goalkeeper in Ligue 1 at the UNFP Trophies. A symbolic recognition which validates a very high level season, built with consistency and humility.
Faced with this change in dimension, the main person concerned is still struggling to measure what is happening to him. ” It’s good ! »he simply blurted out the moment Didier Deschamps pronounced his name, as if the words were not enough to convey the magnitude of the moment. A few minutes later, he gave a glimpse of the raw emotion of this suspended moment: “I feel like there is a vibration throughout my body. There’s too much going on at the moment.”. A feeling of unreality reinforced by his recent career, he who also evoked the emotional impact of his season, to the point of confiding his emotion upon hearing the anthem of the Champions League to Bollaert, as a symbol of everything he did not yet dare to imagine.
A choice far from trivial for Deschamps
Aware of the competition and hierarchy in his position, Risser also places his summons in a broader context. “The situation of the French guards means that I have been in the small papers for 3 or 4 months”he explained at a press conference, while showing a thought for those absent from the list: “I am disappointed for Lucas Chevalier and Alphonse Areola, but as they say, one person’s happiness makes another person’s misfortune”. A lucid sentence, almost cold in its accuracy, which recalls the harsh reality of the very high level and the scarcity of places in the national team. In continuity, the young goalkeeper also assumes his gaze on this consecration. “What if I had in mind being called up for the World Cup at the start of the season? It was hard to believe, honestly, but I never stopped myself from thinking about it.”he added, while emphasizing the Lensois collective which carried it: “what allows me to be here is the performance of the team, otherwise I would never have been in this list”.
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Now integrated into the Blues group, he is preparing to take on a role as third goalkeeper with a simple ambition: to learn and prepare for the highest level. Before experiencing this first World Cup, Risser will still have to complete his season with RC Lens, including a final important meeting against Olympique Lyonnais this Sunday evening. Whatever happens, its history is already marked by a spectacular acceleration: from National with Dijon, to Ligue 2 with Red Star, to Ligue 1 and a World Cup in just two years. A rare, almost disconcerting trajectory, which illustrates the extent to which football can sometimes overturn all logic and transform a destiny in just a few months.
