The promoted to elite faces Nanterre this Sunday, January 23, in the Georges-Carpentier hall. The first derby against the Hauts-de-Seine club can be followed on France 3 Paris Île-de-France from 3:15 p.m.
Bar closed, matches postponed… While Paris Basketball faces Nanterre this Sunday, the professional sports sector remains strongly affected by the health crisis. The pandemic has thus slowed down the economic development of the Parisian club, created almost four years ago.
And this, while Paris Basketball has just reached the elite this season. “We are all the more impacted as we are a new club, underlines Mathias Priesz, director of operations of the club. We had to win partnerships, where other clubs had to keep existing partnerships. For once, it necessarily prevented the club from evolving at first. It was very complicated, everything was blocked in times of pandemic.“
The health crisis is also changing the preparation of players, on a sporting level. “You have to be very flexible because the rules change every week, says Jean-Christophe Prat, coach of Paris Basketball. We have to test our players well, respect the protocols, but also isolate the cases of Covid, be very careful about contact cases…“
Sunday’s match against Nanterre marks the Parisian club’s first derby against the Hauts-de-Seine. Since the start of the health crisis, Nanterre has also seen its revenue decrease. “The shortfall in terms of ticketing and refreshments is very significant, deplores Frédéric Donnadieu, the president of Nanterre 92. Now, we must also salute the effort of the State, because without its help, we could not have gotten out of it this way, like many clubs I think. What is harder is this impression of endless day.“
Everyone got hit at the same time
Nanterre 92 coach Pascal Donnadieu
“We had seven cases at the same time in December, plus the assistant coach, remembers Pascal Donnadieu, the coach of Nanterre 92. Somewhere in our misfortune, it’s almost better, because suddenly everyone was affected at the same time. Maybe that’s better than having players hit in pairs, and being down week after week.“
Paris Basketball is currently ranked 14th in Betclic Elite. Nanterre is, for its part, 7th in the standings.
