Uno borderline management ”, according to Sébastien Joseph, the former coach of the team and now a consultant on Canal +. Seven players arrived this summer and left by slamming the door before mid-December. An assistant coach recruited in mid-July and who preferred to set sail in August. Women footballers who are charged with deductions from their wages, contracts whose fixed part seems to be greatly reduced, poor social coverage…. Historical club of French women’s football, cradle of coach Corinne Deacon and goddaughter of Julie Gayet who officiates as a prestigious godmother, ASJ Soyaux, who had to face …
Uno borderline management ”, according to Sébastien Joseph, the former coach of the team and now a consultant on Canal +. Seven players arrived this summer and left by slamming the door before mid-December. An assistant coach recruited in mid-July and who preferred to set sail in August. Women footballers who are charged with deductions from their wages, contracts whose fixed part seems to be greatly reduced, poor social coverage…. Historic French women’s football club, cradle of coach Corinne Deacon and goddaughter of Julie Gayet who officiates as a prestigious godmother, ASJ Soyaux, who was to face Lyon, the best team in the world, is in turmoil tonight. (1).
Entering the professional world in the summer of 2019 with the creation of a sports company, the only 100% female French football club has inherited the flaws of football-business. Evidenced by the waltz of the players since this summer and the nine nationalities who now coexist in the locker room. Formerly family-run and carried by historical Charentaises like Bernadette Constantin, the club is now recruiting players from all over the world, the last from Kenya and China.
In 2019, it is a Charentais duo, Cordeau / Dupeyrat, who dreams of the golds of female professionalism. The two men join forces with Benoit Letapissier, a business manager based between the Yvelines and the south of France. Without attachment neither to the club nor in the department, he is the majority shareholder. Five months later, he fires his associates, little cut for the big world of pro football, and takes sole control of the club.
An extreme situation
Professional on paper, the club remains amateur in its structure. “ So many players who leave, so quickly, with such resentment, it is a sign that there is a problem ”, blows a close to the club. Guillaume Serra, ex of PSG and ephemeral assistant coach: “The supervision is totally lacking. It is terrible for these young women. We do not recruit when we do not have the logistical, financial, moral and housing resources. The structure is outdated. After two days, I realized that it would be dangerous for me to be associated with this ”. Six months later, the facts prove him right. However, he defends Benoît Letapissier: “He does what he can. But he is not surrounded enough ”.
This wavering has very concrete consequences. “Their way of treating the players is unworthy and I will never work with them again”, thus asserts Takhumi Jeannin, agent firmly established in all the clubs of women’s D1. It was one of his players, the American Samantha Johnson, who sounded the alarm first, publicly.
It was in October. She slammed the club door and split open long open letter on an American site. She tells about unsuccessful medical expenses, the lack of health exams … Her testimony is not isolated. The season had started with many red flags, on a human level, such as the precipitous departure of the young hope of French women’s football, Sarah Zahot. She was even the victim of a road accident, leaving Soyaux in a hurry.
Arrived this summer, already left, a player describes: “I’ve played in several countries and I’ve never seen it. I had to return to my country to be treated. On my return, they made a deduction from my wages for my absence ”. The human is now lacking. “I was told I was coming to a family club. They are liars ”, asserts a foreign player who has already left.
Alerted in the fall, the former footballer Laurent Pionnier, now secretary general of the UNFP, the union of professional players, went there. “I thought I would meet two or three players. To my surprise, there were many more ” He says : “It seems delusional to me that employees, whatever their sector of activity, find themselves in such situations in France in 2021”.
It seems delusional to me that employees, whatever their sector of activity, find themselves in such situations in France in 2021.
Impossible that professional players are without social coverage. It is impossible for a woman to be registered with a security number starting with a 1 (that of men, note). Impossible that injured players find themselves without any support. Impossible to juggle student or tourist visas …
A premium that raises questions
It was at the office of Thomas Mesnier, deputy, that he found the necessary help to regularize these administrative situations. “These young women were not compensated as they should have been and had to pay additional costs. This creates serious situations of precariousness and psychological distress. What I had to deal with in this club is an aberration, a danger, an extreme case which does not reflect women’s football ”.
The savings on players don’t end with health insurance. “They make a contract in two parts, with a federal one, generally very low, which makes it possible to reduce the social charges, and a premium of representation.” For the players, for the agents, it is automatic. Not for the president. Since the start of the season, these questions have polluted the group. The industrial tribunal will have to decide several cases concerning the Charentais club.
If the omerta affects the team and those close to them, concern is gaining ground. Mayor of Soyaux, François Nebout recognizes a certain “opacity. We don’t know much about what’s going on at the club ”. This Sunday, he was at the stadium, in the company of Philippe Bouty, president of the department, and two other vice-presidents of the departmental council. None of these elected officials had the pleasure of being greeted by Benoît Letapissier. The managers of the ASJ Soyaux association, a 23% shareholder in the professional sports company, either. They returned to the stadium with invitations provided by … Orleans, the opposing club.
(1) The match has been postponed due to covid.
