31 players sue their union for poor financial advice

According to them, these players were encouraged by the wealth management consulting subsidiary of their union, the UNFP, to invest in nursing home rooms.

31 professional footballers, active or retired, are suing their union, the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP), claiming to have been poorly advised by its wealth management consulting subsidiary. Among them the former OM defender Laurent Bonnard, the ex-Lille player Franck Béria, the current Blues goalkeeper coach Franck Raviot, the former Valenciennes player David Ducourtioux, the former Lens player Alaeddine Yahia and even the former -Marseille teammates Benoît Cheyrou and Rod Fanni or ex-Bleu (7 caps) Étienne Capoue, today at Villarreal.

“When they came to see me, it was clear that I wanted something secure”summarizes Geoffrey Dernis, French champion with Montpellier in 2010, now retired from the field. “I would never have bet on red or black like in the casino. What I wanted was the guarantee of peace of mind”continues the ex-player trained in Lille, who does not know if he will one day see the investments he made, which correspond to half of what he earned during his career.

Represented by lawyer Benjamin Cabagno, the 31 players accuse the UNFP of “abuse of dominant position” and “failure to provide advice, information and prudence”. The first hearing before the Paris court is scheduled for April 22. They accuse the union, which protected their rights during their career, of having advised them, via its wealth management consultancy subsidiary Europ Sports Conseil (ESC), closed last year, to invest in the purchase of rooms in accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people (Ehpad).

“We completely surrendered to our union, we had confidence”

The idea was to purchase one or more medical rooms in an establishment with state approval and operated by a third party to receive the rent for these rooms and benefit from tax advantages. A placement in stone, supposedly safe. But the plaintiffs believe they were not correctly informed of the risks they ran, and in particular that of seeing the operator of the nursing home move after a few years, leaving the owners with the only walls they purchased, medical rooms. impossible to operate without approval, often dilapidated and located in isolated areas.

“They have cathedrals in the desert”, summarizes Benjamin Cabagno. The lawyer initially tried to negotiate with the UNFP before summoning the union and Claude Deplanche, a former footballer, for a time at the head of ESC, on behalf of his clients before the Paris court. Contacted by AFP, the UNFP asserts for its part that it has never provided any advice, because“she did not have the skills nor the legal capacity to do so”. The union insists that “all of the investments made and contested were made solely by the asset management advisors of its subsidiary, ESC“An argument contested by the players, who denounce a border that is too porous between the union and its subsidiary.

“When we made these investments, we were young, we only thought about our careers as footballers, we gave ourselves completely to our union, we had confidence”underlines Laurent Bonnart, who became the spokesperson for around fifteen of these players gathered at the end of January in their lawyer’s office.

“The UNFP was synonymous with protection”adds Franck Béria. “All its life, the sheep feared the wolf. And in the end, it is the shepherd who eats it”, regrets today Alaeddine Yahia, former Tunisian international. The UNFP, for its part, encourages players to turn against the “truly responsible for their setbacks, namely the ARS [Agence régionale de santé] for the allocation or withdrawal of authorization for beds, and managers of nursing homes” in question. The complainants also alerted the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) about their situation, even if they still hope “find a solution” with the union, whose usefulness they recognized and some of whom even acted as relay within their clubs.