Clermont-Ferrand (AFP)

After having flirted with accession for several years, here is Clermont 2nd in Ligue 2: the Auvergne club is entering the elite of French football for the first time, where it will rely on smart recruitment and reasonable financial resources to avoid immediately taking over the competition. 'elevator.

The Puy-de-Dôme and more widely Auvergne welcome this climb with pride, validated after a course hailed in particular by the media, the mayor of Clermont-Ferrand, Olivier Bianchi (PS), or figures of local sport such as rugby players. from ASM Clermont or pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie.

Clermont Foot has been chaired since 2019 by Switzerland's Ahmet Schaefer, a 40-year-old Zurich entrepreneur specializing in football, a former FIFA employee of Sepp Blatter and sports rights consultant, who bought the club for around five million euros. .

And to make a success of its entry into the big leagues, Clermont intends to be inspired by the operation of Angers when the SCO rose to the elite in 2015, with good seasons since (at worst a 14th place).

- Angers as a model -

"We have a team that works so well that we want to continue with this group. A third season together would save time in the preparation and there is this positive energy that could be manifested in the first matches", had confided Mr. Schaefer, in an interview published in mid-March in the local daily, La Montagne.

Given the future TV rights after the failure of Mediapro and the financial situation in which several clubs could find themselves in order to relieve their payroll, Clermont hopes to seize opportunities with loans with option to buy in case of maintenance or on inexpensive transfers.

And he hopes to attract profiles of players that he would not have been able to recruit if he had gone up a few years ago.

"The goal is to approach this first season in a healthy way, from a sporting as well as financial point of view", had further suggested Ahmet Schaefer, discreet about the budget at his disposal.

He was this season of 10 M EUR, the 10th in Ligue 2.

The club must also look into the problem of the Gabriel-Montpied stadium, inaugurated in December 1995 and never finished, with a single permanent stand with a capacity of 8,000 seats.

The total capacity of the enclosure will be increased from 11,000 to 15,000 seats with tubular and modular structures in the event of a descent, including for the services that will be offered on match nights.

Olivier Bianchi, mayor of Clermont and president of the metropolitan council, intends to have the Metropolis adopt development works for the stadium to the tune of 3 million euros.

The first matches could be played either away or at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in Saint-Etienne.

Administratively, Clermont Foot will reinforce its staff with limited-term contracts, again subject to maintenance.

- The Cup before the elite -

This accession to Ligue 1 rewards a long process for a young club, founded in 1990 after the bankruptcy of Clermont FC where notably played in the 2nd division (1988-1989) and at the end of his career, the Pole Andrzej Szarmach (coach-player) and Serge Chiesa.

Clermont Foot, in Ligue 2 since 2007, has flirted for several seasons with the places of honor after having distinguished himself, while playing in National 2 (4th div.), In the Coupe de France with the elimination of Paris Saint-Germain (1997) or that of the French champion, Lyon (2005), or a quarter-final of the Coupe la Ligue (2005).

Trained since September 2017 by Pascal Gastien (57 years old), successor to Corinne Diacre (2014-2017), the first woman to lead a professional men's team, Clermont was already in the race for accession last season when the championships, due to the health crisis.

However, his appeals, also brought by Troyes and AC Ajaccio, up to the Council of State to dispute the dams, canceled by the authorities, had been rebutted.

Not to discourage the Auvergnats who have won this season 21 wins for nine draws and eight defeats with the best defense (25 goals conceded) and the best goal difference.

A dynamic that they hope to maintain in the recovery.

© 2021 AFP