Blonde teenager Axelle Despiegelaere was snapped up by a leading beauty company after pictures of her cheering on her country quickly went viral
Axelle Despiegelaere shot to stardom while supporting Belgium at the FIFA World Cup 2014(Image: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
The FIFA World Cup is often heralded as a time for new stars to emerge – both on and off the pitch.
During the 2014 tournament in Brazil, Belgium fans were delighted as a new golden generation of talent finally found their feet on the world stage. Coached by legendary ex-midfielder Marc Wilmots, a star-studded line-up including Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku stylishly cruised into the quarter-finals.
The Red Devils won all three group games comfortably before defeating the United States in the round of 16, only to be narrowly knocked out a round later by eventual finalists Argentina. But it wasn’t just Belgium’s silky football that got tongues wagging during the tournament – one supporter was suddenly propelled into the limelight, too.
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Belgium supporter Axelle Despiegelaere was snapped cheering on her nation with two friends during their 1-0 group game victory over Russia. Photographers at the iconic Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro couldn’t get enough of Axelle.
She was holding a pair of pom poms in her hand and sporting a red, yellow and black devil horn hat on her head – a reference to the national side’s nickname and colours.
Pictures of the blonde teen went viral, with fans quick to laud Axelle as football’s “most beautiful supporter” and the World Cup’s “sexiest fan”. The pandemonium caught the attention of bosses at French cosmetics company L’Oreal, who leapt into action to offer her a modelling contract.
Axelle seemed to have bagged a job for life, beginning her new role as the star of a social media campaign where she promoted various products and gave fans a ‘hair tutorial’ video. But things quickly went sour after the then 17-year-old posted an ill-advised photo on her Facebook page.
The grainy snap appeared to show Axelle armed with a hunting rifle, sitting next to a dead oryx. She captioned the post: “Hunting is not a matter of life or death.
“It’s much more important than that… this was about one year ago… ready to hunt Americans today haha.”
That quickly prompted a fierce backlash online, with Axelle later adding: “I didn’t mean to offend anyone.. it was a joke.” But the damage was already done and L’Oreal quickly tore up their contract with her – although the beauty giant never confirmed if the hunting snap was the sole reason.
Twelve years on from her dramatic rise – and fall – 29-year-old Axelle works in her native Belgium as the co-founder of Spinvest Group, a family-owned property development and investment company.
She married her partner Emile Steyaert in 2022 and gave birth to their first child in December 2024.
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