Handball: “There will be no ambassador role” at Usam Nîmes for Benjamin Gallego

Benjamin Gallego lors de ses adieux au Parnasse fin mai. Midi Libre – ALEXIS BETHUNE

Benjamin Gallego en équipe de France de beach cet été. MIDI LIBRE – DR

INFO MIDI LIBRE. Benjamin Gallego, jeune retraité des terrains, n’a pas trouvé d’accord avec l’Usam Nîmes pour rester au club. Explications.

So, how does it feel not to be back training in July, for the first time in fifteen years ?

Almost twenty, even ! It feels good, even if I haven't had much of a break from beach handball. But it allows you to live the moments fully without saying to yourself: “Quick, I only have three days of vacation left before I have to go back.”

With the French beach handball team, you were at the Paris Olympics…

Yes, we were a demonstration sport. A stadium was built near the Maison du handball, in Créteil. There were 4 teams, 3 All Star selections with the best players in the world and France. We won three matches out of six in front of the IOC representatives and the politicians. It's spectacular, we hoped to be an Olympic discipline in Los Angeles, but the Americans preferred more local sports. Maybe in Brisbane in 2032, but it will be a bit late for me!

On the other hand, you will play Euro 2025 on the sand with the Blues…

Yes, I'm continuing at least until the Euro. We qualified in the qualifiers in Bulgaria in July. We finished 3rd. I joined the team after the last league match in Nantes. My friends had gone on a slush weekend, and I was on international duty. I mainly play defender: there are two lines, a bit like in hockey, defence and attack.

Did you have time to go and watch events?

Yes, with my brother and family. We had two tickets for athletics, and we managed to buy others at the last minute for handball in Lille and the pentathlon in Versailles. Usually, I don't like Paris, but there… it was a different atmosphere, bon vivant, day and night, with the CRS, people from all countries. I saw Jean-Marc Pontvianne, from Nîmes, in the triple jump at the Stade de France, and we saw the men's 100m final. It was incredible. They say the world stops for 10 seconds, but in fact it's 20 minutes, there's a before, an after…

The next step for you is this role of ambassador to Usam. You weren't at the club's season launch party. Where is it at ?

There will be no ambassador role.

Why ? The club had announced you as Michaël Guigou's successor…

To resume the story chronologically, Usam informed me at the beginning of January that he would not keep me as a player, but that he wanted to keep me at the club. I asked for time to think about it, because I didn't know if I was going to continue playing. Physically, I had no doubts, I had come back from my operation faster than expected, I felt good. I had offers from D1 (including Toulouse) but I put my family first.

In March, I informed Usam that I was ending my playing career. In May, it was announced at a press conference that I would be the club's new ambassador. In June, I was received by David Tebib (president) and Jérôme Chauvet (manager). They offered me partner relations missions, with a percentage on the contracts, and ambassadorship with institutions. But without being an employee of Usam.

I had to create my own business so that the club could pay me as a self-employed person. This status did not allow me to provide for my family and put me in a precarious and insecure situation, without social protection. If something happens to me, I will no longer have an income. I refused. I did not make it a question of money, nor of a permanent contract. A one-year fixed-term contract would have suited me to start with. It was not possible.

It sucks because I wore out my body for Usam, I pushed it to the limit, and I also know that I could have brought things to the club and its partners.

Benjamin Gallego at Usam, it's well and truly over, so ?

No, I can't say it's over. It will never be over. Usam is part of me, like Clermont-l'Hérault. A page has turned. But I will never be angry with Usam, nor with anyone from the club.

And the team in all this ? Did you follow his preparation ? Without regrets ?

I followed from afar, on social networks. I ate with some, then with the whole team. It seems to me that it's a good group. I went to see them in a friendly at the Parnasse against Istres. Well, I was a little angry (30-29 defeat, Editor's note), I said to myself at one point “put your shoes on, go help them” (laughs) but no, I have no regrets. If my activities allow me, I will go to see matches and support the team!

For the moment, Benjamin Gallego, 35, is unemployed but has “projects in entrepreneurship and leisure”. He is already invested in the Ventriglisse, Prison Island, the creation of a padel complex in Marguerittes “and other things”. He continues to referee with Julien Rebichon. This weekend, he was honored for his career at the LNH trophies at Futuroscope. I subscribe to read the rest