At (almost) every edition of the French Football Cup, its Petit Poucet. After the GFA Rumilly-Vallières, in 2021, it is the turn of FC Versailles 78 to find themselves in the semi-finals and to be the last club of National 2 (the fourth division) still in the competition.
However, in the streets of the city of Yvelines, a few days before this match against Nice, Tuesday 1er March, there is “no excessive fervor”confides a local resident, when the club had never done better than a round of 16 in this competition.
It must be said that the meeting will not take place, as it should have been the case, in the royal city. The Montbauron stadium, with 6,200 seats, does not meet the required standards: it does not have lighting to play at night. Result, despite attempts to find a fallback stadium in Ile-de-France, the semi-final will be played in Nice.
“We are a little disappointed, we would have really liked to share this with the Versailles people, says team coach Youssef Chibhi. We feel that our journey makes them happy, they support us. But we’re going to play at the Allianz Riviera, it’s so rare in the career of an amateur footballer. And we say to ourselves that we are one step away from the Stade de France [pour la finale]. Just saying it is so unrealistic, but it is the reality. »
Entry of investors in May 2021
Associating Versailles and football can also appear otherwise “unrealistic” at least incongruous. The city is especially associated with its castle, its bourgeoisie, its conservative values… « Images of Epinalsweeps Nicolas Fouquet, the deputy mayor in charge of sports. Contrary to popular belief, it’s a sports town, with 28,000 members for 80,000 inhabitants, but it’s more amateur-oriented. »
FC Versailles itself has existed since 1989 and the players of the pennant team are only fans in name. “Today, we have a majority of players who only play football, and the idea is to structure around it”explains Youssef Chibhi.
If it ranks eleventh largest club in France by the number of licensees (1,200), the club had, a year ago, one of the smallest budgets in its division. The former president, Daniel Voisin, then decided to seek investors. An agreement will thus be concluded in May 2021 with two partners of the real estate group Fiducim – City-GC, who wanted to invest in a club in the Paris region
An SAS was created to manage the first team, which is no longer subsidized by the city. “We continue to allocate 120,000 euros to the sports association, which remains non-profit, but we do not financially support team 1 because we do not have the means and it is not our will”explains Nicolas Fouquet.
This change of structure will however lead, in November 2021, Daniel Voisin, ” at variance ” with the team coach and the investors, to slam the door after eighteen years of good service. “ You have to stay in tune with your values, without being stunned by this sudden surge in money”he wrote in a press release.
Daniel Voisin wished to speak about his departure. The comments contained in this press release belong to him. The no… https://t.co/9uygUCQkqo
To arrive in National 1, the objective of this season
The day after the departure of Daniel Voisin, Jean-Luc Arribart was appointed managing director by the investors, with whom he had been in contact for two years. “When they offered me the job, I said I was okay, provided I had a free hand and full powers to run the club”says the former professional player, now a consultant for Canal+. “There is a structural deficit, we need to improve our facilities and our grounds. »
On the lawn of the Montbauron stadium and the Porchefontaine stadium, where the team trains, the heads have also changed. The workforce was strongly renewed during the summer transfer window, with the recruitment of experienced players. “We wanted boys who knew the N2 championship well, a little bit vindictive, who were refused the professional world”explains Youssef Chibhi, Versailles coach for seven and a half years.
With one goal: to finish the season in the league on the throne of his group – the team is currently first after 19and day – and access the next level, the National 1. “Eventually, we would like to evolve even more, but we have to go through the stages one after the other”, emphasizes Youssef Chibhi.
? The immense joy of @FCVersailles78 (N2) fans after their historic qualification in the semi-finals of the… https://t.co/dYbOw82str
With a budget now between 1.5 and 2 million euros – one of the largest in its National 2 group – the club has entered a new era. “Financially, we went from last to the head of the peloton”, summarizes Jean-Luc Arribart. However, Youssef Chibhi wants him to keep his “human dimension” : “We don’t want to take ourselves for others. We also want to keep our identity as a training club that trusts its young people and increases the means in their favor, through this project. »
Tuesday 1er March, a hundred supporters will make the trip to the Côte d’Azur, while in Versailles, a fan-zone should be set up on the Notre-Dame market square, as Nicolas Fouquet hopes: “There were around 2,000 people in the quarter-final against Bergerac. It was a great party and it will be again if we manage to organize it for the semi-final. » Whatever happens, the epic of the new royal family of Versailles has only just begun.