Paris (AFP)
Jean-Pierre Papin, former glory of French football and Ballon d'Or 1991, will be the next coach of C'Chartres (National 2) for a season plus two optional years, announced Tuesday the club of Eure-et-Loir .
Papin, 56, began his coaching career by leading the Arcachon Basin (DH) team. He then brought up (2005-2006) from L2 to L1 RC Strasbourg (L1) before joining, RC Lens (L1) with which he was relegated to Ligue 2 (2007-2008). It was Jean-Guy Walemme who then succeeded him.
In December 2009, the former international (54 selections) took over from Dominique Bijotat in Châteauroux, which he managed to maintain in L2, at the same time sending this maintenance match to Strasbourg, his former club, in National.
He will, however, leave the Berry club to devote himself to his role as consultant for television and his association "Neuf de Coeur", created in 1996 with his wife to help brain damaged children like Emily, one of his children.
He said he would be dropping out of BeIN on the weekend but left an open door for the week.
"Yes, we have agreed with the president, Gérard Soler, for a little month," Papin told the daily Echo Républicain. What is interesting is to have a real project with ambitions. When all the ingredients are there, it becomes much more pleasant, more motivating. "
"I have had very good experiences, some bad experiences. In football you quickly forget what is going on. If you are in the circle all the time and you get out, it's very difficult to go back Whenever I have faced this in my career, I have returned to base, put on the blue jacket and started working differently. Today is what I need to do ", he added to justify his return to the fourth national level.
Jean-Pierre Papin, top French goalscorer and Ballon d'Or 1991, will arrive in Chartres on Wednesday and will aim to climb as early as "next season in National".
Before starting its championship, the Chartres club has planned preparatory meetings against Blois (August 1), Boulogne Côte d'Opale (August 5), Créteil Lusitanos (August 8), the Bobigny Football Academy (August 12 ), Cholet (August 16) and finally Oissel (August 22).
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