No more Olympic champions in Ligue A, “a dream, an ambition and a desire” for the new president of the National League Jean Azéma

Jean Azéma a assisté au match entre Montpellier et Nice. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

President of the Toulouse Spacers from 2008 to 2022, Jean Azéma is the new president of the National Volleyball League. In this interview, the Montpellier native presents his team's project.

What do you want to implement during this term at the head of the LNV ?

First, an observation: in basketball and handball, many clubs are involved. Volleyball cannot complete the men's League A with 13 clubs out of 14, the men's League B has nine when we could have 14. If we want professional volleyball to be more visible, it must be more present in the territory. We want to have more clubs at the professional level by preparing them to have a project for League B. The policy implemented until now has impoverished the divisions.

Did we want to professionalize too quickly with many constraints ?

Professionalization does not date from four years ago. The requirement set was linked to structures, to supervision, that is normal. Did it go too fast? ? I note that in other leagues, it was done in stages. We must have a contextualized vision of things by supporting the clubs. If we set too high demands, there may be a temptation for a club to go all out and end up falling flat on its face.

Are you going to question the club license established by the previous management team ?

There will be no questioning of a principle of specifications. Today, the three main elements imposed are infrastructure, human resources and finances. We need to be more flexible and, at the same time, I think it is incomplete. We need to do more on training, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), communication… The priority is to get people into the rooms.

What do you say to those who are worried about this change ?

We don't want to change everything, but we have to look at what we can do to help the clubs. For example, given the situation of the men's Ligue B clubs, was it necessary to impose the video challenge technology ? Another thing: the calendar lasts six months. Clubs that don't qualify for the final stages finish too early. We could create complementary competitions, this is done in Italy and Poland.

What do you think of the developments represented by the agreement with television broadcasters and the naming that have arrived in the women's and men's League A ?

Broadcasters provide visibility, recognition of volleyball via television. For BeIN Sports for example, I don't know the file well because we've never heard about it in the steering committee. I'll know more very soon. We could perhaps work on improving the LNV TV. As for naming, it's always good news when a company is interested in a championship. Everything is going well, it will be a question of seeing how to improve it.

Beyond Earvin Ngapteh's stint in Poitiers until December, would you like to see more Olympic champion Bleus join the championship ?

It is at the same time a dream, an ambition and a desire. The players will play abroad, they are right, the financial conditions are better. To keep them, the clubs must get richer: more clubs, more public, more interest and visibility, everything is linked. If we have a restrictive vision of things, we won't get there.

I subscribe to read the rest