La Jonelière, FC Nantes training center. - @ FCNantes / Arnaud Duret.

  • At the end of the season, the FCN training center should not move into the Prestige category, a new level created by the French Football Federation.
  • Everything except a surprise for a Jonelière, who is sorely lacking in space to accommodate her different sections.
  • Samuel Fenillat, director of the Nantes training center, explains what the club lacks to be part of the gratin and the consequences.

An ultimately logical result. When the mail from the DTN (National Technical Directorate) arrived on the management desk and he was warned of its content, Samuel Fenillat, the director of the training center of FC Nantes, was not even surprised .

The FCN training center should not be moved to the Prestige category, a new level created by the French Football Federation. Only Lyon, Paris, Marseille, Reims, Auxerre and Monaco should reach this higher rank in four months. "This is a simple proposal from DTN, it will be ratified at the end of the season," said Fenillat.

#OM The Olympian training center has been classified in the “prestige” category, newly created, by the FFF, alongside Lyon, Paris, Monaco, Reims and Auxerre. #OMFormation

- Jérémy Tordjman (@Jay_Tordjman) February 22, 2020

Lack of space at la Jonelière

The Nantes team will not be demoted, it will remain in category 1. Why this lack of promotion for the club? “We cannot claim this Prestige category not because of our human resources that we fill [number of diplomas, educators etc.], but rather in view of the current structural configuration of the center. "

As mentioned for months and months, the Jonelière, site for which the Bâtiments de France refused an extension, is far too small to accommodate the different sections of FC Nantes.

To be able to apply for the Prestige category, work (“renovation of the locker rooms in particular”) and the construction of new structures (“video system, performance room, medical and care offices etc.”) are necessary. "There should be more than the training center that is present on the site and therefore that the football school and the female section are no longer there," also said the director of the training center. A configuration proposed by the city hall of Nantes at the end of 2019 with a move of these two entities to the Basses Landes, but refused by the management of the FCN.

A move to Pont-Saint-Martin in neutral

In the background, the move of the Jonelière, desired by Waldemar Kita for several months. The Nantes president's negotiations with landowners in Pont-Saint-Martin seem to have stalled.

"We can stay as we are, but when we do not move forward, we back off," regrets Fenillat, who nevertheless specifies that there are no financial consequences not to reach the supreme rank. Nantes must ultimately be in this Prestige category. The clubs, which will be part of it, will put this forward and boast of better reception conditions. In terms of attractiveness, it is more seller. Knowing President Kita and having discussed it with him, he wants us to be in this category, but when and how? Only he can answer it. Asked on this subject, the management of Nantes did not wish to say more.

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  • Waldemar Kita
  • Nantes
  • Soccer
  • Training
  • FC Nantes
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