Paris (AFP)

Six months before the Tokyo Olympic Games (July 24-August 9), Vincent Collet was thanked by his club Strasbourg, an ouster which has no consequence on his future at the head of the Blues, already qualified for the JO-2020.

. How did Strasbourg get there?

Vincent Collet arrived in Alsace in spring 2011 and signed the best years of GIS there. Two wins in the Leaders Cup (2015 and 2019), two crowns in the Coupe de France (2015 and 2018), a final of the Eurocoupe (2nd European level) in 2016 lost against the Turks in Galatasaray.

However, he missed a title of champion of France, the second after 2005, and it is not for lack of trying: from 2013 and 2017, the SIG each time rose to the ProA final, five finals for so many failures. That of 2016 against Villeurbanne will have left the most regrets and traces.

The coach of the Blues does not extend his contract in Strasbourg in 2016, but returns as a savior after the catastrophic beginnings of his successor, the Finn Henrik Dettmann.

His situation has greatly weakened last season, after elimination in the quarterfinals of Elite against Dijon, at home after leading by 29 points!

Two weeks later, SIG president Martial Bellon announces that 2019/20 will be the last season of Collet in Strasbourg. Saturday's defeat at the Rhénus against the promoted Orleans, the 10th consecutive all competitions, was one too many.

. Coaching club and selection, is this a frequent situation?

Very rare or even nonexistent in football, the double club coach and national coach is quite common in basketball, whether it is for men or women.

When taking over from Michel Gomez as coach of the France team in the summer of 2009, Vincent Collet was stationed in Villeurbanne, where he had just won the title of champion of France at Paris-Bercy by defeating Orléans ( 55-41).

And the technician has already experienced such a misadventure of an eviction by being posted to the France team: after a complicated start to the 2010/11 season with Asvel, the Rhone club decided to part with him in November 2010.

That did not prevent the Collet Blues from taking second place in Euro-2011 a few months later, beaten by Spain in the final, but directly validating the ticket for the London Olympics.

At the head of the French women's team since autumn 2013, Valérie Garnier has always led the front club (Bourges then Fenerbahçe) and selection. And she learned that her contract with Fenerbahçe had not been extended at the end of June, the day before the start of Euro-2019, that the Blue team still finished in 2nd place behind Spain.

. Will this eviction have a consequence in Blue?

The Federation did not wish to comment on the situation which arises "from the life of the club, from relations between Vincent and Strasbourg", while adding that the two contracts "are completely dissociated and that has no consequence on the post of coach of the France team ".

The Federation had thus confirmed Collet in his functions as coach in November 2010 after his dismissal from Asvel.

In September 2016, Collet's contract was extended until 2019, with an automatic supplement of one year thanks to the bronze medal at the Mondial-2019, crowned with a prestigious success in the United States and synonymous with Olympic qualification.

Because unlike 2016, the Blues will not have to go get their ticket to Tokyo in an exhausting qualification tournament a few weeks from the Games.

© 2020 AFP