Geneva will offer Daïna Bourma a reunion with Lyon, but sentiment will stop at the touchline. The Servette defender faces the club where she learned the game on Wednesday at 18:45, with close friend Selma Bacha lining up on the other side in the Women’s Champions League.
Bourma and Bacha came through the Lyon academy together and remain deeply connected away from football. Their fathers are close friends, they regularly stayed at each other’s homes as children, and their rivalry has long continued through Fortnite and Call of Duty.
Quick facts
- Servette host Lyon on Wednesday at 18:45 in the Women’s Champions League.
- Daïna Bourma, 26, joined Lyon’s academy at around nine or 10 years old.
- Selma Bacha is 25 and has won 54 caps for France.
- Bourma has played for Servette since 2021 and won Swiss league titles in 2024 and 2026.
- Servette will also face Köge, Leuven, Roma, Barcelona and Paris FC in the league phase.
When the league-phase draw was made, the two former academy teammates exchanged a photograph of themselves in Lyon colours. Bourma described Bacha as one of her closest friends, but the Servette player is clear that the reunion will become competitive once the match begins.
Bacha echoed that feeling before the trip to Switzerland. She calls Bourma her “sister”, having grown up alongside her in the same youth system, but said neither player would hold back during the game.
“On the pitch she is an opponent, and there will be no favours,” Bacha said. “We have not discussed the match itself or our teams. That remains private.”
A long route back to Lyon
Bourma left Lyon before reaching the senior side and completed the latter part of her development at Montpellier, where she played with the under-19s. She recalled winning the age-group championship against both Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain.
Without a professional deal at Montpellier, she moved to Rangers in 2019. It was there that she signed her first senior contract and made her first appearances, before the Covid pandemic brought the season to a halt.
She arrived at Servette four years after leaving Lyon, drawn by a project close to home and a club that had just qualified for Europe. “It was the ideal place for me,” Bourma said of her move to the shores of Lake Geneva.
Servette aiming for a stronger European showing
Bourma first experienced the Champions League with Servette in 2021-22, a group-stage campaign that brought six defeats and no goals. Juventus won 3-0 and 4-0, Wolfsburg prevailed 5-0 and 3-0, while Chelsea recorded 7-0 and 1-0 victories.
This time, Bourma believes Servette arrive with greater confidence after five years of development and sacrifice. Lyon are among the tournament’s leading contenders, but the Swiss champions feel the revised 18-team single-league format gives them matches in which they can compete.
After the Lyon occasion, Servette’s schedule includes fixtures against Köge, Leuven, Roma, Barcelona and Paris FC. For Bourma, Wednesday is both a homecoming and a measure of how far her adopted club has travelled.
