Koh Lanta, Top Chef, Les Marseillais ... The confinement once again demonstrated that reality TV - and its large audiences - had a certain future on television. Tony Vairelles has understood this and also wants to launch his concept around football. The former RC Lens star (from 1996 to 1999 and in 2003) imagined a concept mixing the scenario of a television show (elimination, jury, guest-stars) with that of the documentary deciphering the sacrifices required of a young player to become a pro player. On the same concept of À la Clairefontaine , documentary broadcast by Canal + in the 2000s, where we followed in particular the training of a cuvée of young champions, including Hatem Ben Arfa.
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Becoming a professional player would be the reward. The winner would be offered a contract with a professional club, which remains unknown at the moment. "A club trusts me to find a player who could suit their squad. They really believe in the credibility of my program," Tony Vairelles told Matthieu Belliard in the morning of Europe 1 Thursday.
The path will be long. Applicants must first pass a pre-casting to try to access the first detection phase. "They can send us a video to find out what they are worth on a football field. I would like a game to be chosen by lot so that no one is harmed and everyone has a chance," explains the old international. Elected officials would then be gathered for four days of tests before facing a team of semi-professionals. At the end of the meeting, we would know the 18 players chosen for the adventure.
Olivier Rouiller, Marius Trésor, Pascal Olmeta, Steve Savidan, a colorful jury
"They will be physically prepared as a pre-season training course for professionals. There will be many friendly matches where each time several players will be eliminated, just like in the TV hooks." For this, Tony Vairelles used his vast network of former players to form a colorful jury. Olivier Rouiller, Marius Trésor, Pascal Olmeta and Steve Savidan, having all made a remarkable career on professional grounds, will have to decide on the young players. "I was happy to meet all these people and ask them for this enormous service, to follow me on this project. They accepted with great pleasure", details Tony Vairelles who is just waiting for a broadcaster for his program to arrive on our screens.
"Ultime chance", the future name of the show?
"It can be a channel that broadcasts only sport but not only," he says. "We tried to build this show to be as attractive as possible and to entertain as many people as possible. That’s why we are bringing in guests and that we’ll be entering behind football, which you don’t see every day, the work force that you have to put together to become a professional. You don’t become a snap. The players you have selected are already players who have passed through training centers. And why not find the original player, who has never passed through a center, or even who has never had a license. "
Tony Vairelles would like his program to be called "Ultime chance". "It is not a second chance. For some it is the first. It is something for me ultimate," he concludes.