Anne-Cécile Ciofani (born 14 December 1993) is a French rugby player.[2] She was awarded World Rugby Women’s Sevens Player of the Year for 2021.[3][4]
Career
She discovered rugby at age 18 when she started studying Science and technology of physical and sports activities (STAPS), while she practiced the heptathlon:
With my speed skills, I knew I could do it. The opportunity to reach the very highest level pushed me as much as the practice.
Six months after her debut, however, she is summoned to the Elite Center of Marcoussis, but is only selected in the national team in 2018.[5]
In 2018, when she finished her first year as a professional player at AC Bobigny, she became vice-champion of the world of rugby 7 with the France team. She scored a test on the last action in the game against Australia, Olympic champion, which qualified France in the final and was elected best new player of the world tournament.[6]
She came from a sporting family, both parents participated in Olympiads, her father Walter Ciofani in the hammer throw in Los Angeles in 1984, and her Cameroonian mother Jeanne Ngo Minyemeck in women's shot put and the women's discus throw at Seoul in 1988. Her sisters Juliette (Junior French Champion) and Audrey Ciofani (French Champion Hope and Vice Elite Champion) are athletes at the hammer throw and licensed at the Athletic Circle of Montreuil 93.[9]
In 2022, Ciofani married Geoffray Durbant, who is a professional footballer.[10]
