There are no clubs like ASPTT, DUC, USCD or DFCO that train children to play football in Dijon. There is also… PSG. Yes, Paris Saint-Germain, the club of Mbappé, Neymar and Messi, which prances at the top of Ligue 1 and which is still in search of its first Champions League. The “PSG Academy” of Dijon organizes since 2015 courses during the holidays and training every Wednesday and Saturday, on the Saint-Appolinaire Urban Soccer grounds. The difference with a “classic” club? This is indoor football, five against five, on a synthetic lawn. And with only training, there are no competitions between players or matches on the weekends.
What interest(s) for PSG?
There are twenty “PSG Academy” in France. For a total of 150 schools in the world, in 16 countries spread over four continents, as explained by our colleagues from France Bleu Paris Nadia Benmokhtar, responsible for the development of the PSG brand internationally. One of the objectives: establish and increase the notoriety of the PSG brand, in France and around the world. Valérian Perrin, holder of the BEF, the coaching certificate, and head of the Dijon academy, recognizes this: “They are diversifying their practices. There is this idea, it is the PSG brand image that is sold, we sell PSG jerseys, sweaters, k-ways. Obviously, it seeks to reach an audience very wide throughout France“.
These academies it is also the possibility for PSG to flush out talents. Even if that’s not the primary goal. “It’s not a training center at all, parents contact us for that sometimes, says Valerian Perrin. It really is a leisure section. So no, there will surely be no future Mbappé here. But you never know, if there are players who stand out, it’s also a way for them to reach as many children as possible.”. Finding a nugget in a “PSG Academy”, this may be the case elsewhere, but it seems more complicated in Dijon. “It’s less true here for Dijon, because the best players will rather be in the clubs, explains Valérian Perrin. But for the Paris region, there will be very good players in the “PSG Academy””.
Performance, anyway, is not what is sought in Dijon, neither by the children nor by their coaches: “They have to come with a smile and leave with a smile, while trying to progress. We are not in a spirit of competition, there are no calls for matches on the weekend or classifications not levels”develops Valérian Perrin.
“Dreaming bigger” costs more
Registration for the year in the PSG Academy in Dijon costs 349 euros – 239 euros for “baby football”, reserved for children under five. It includes workouts and an outfit. To compare, the annual registration in a “classic” club, managed by an association, is more than half the price: 130 euros for example for the DUC, the Dijon University club, between the license, the contribution and an outfit in endowment.
A logical price difference according to Valérian Perrin, head of the Dijon branch. He evokes the “Training comfort, indoors, with always good ground. There is never snow, never rain”. According to him, it is also the guarantee of a football “in reduced numbers”with children who “touch the ball a lot more outside, since it’s 5 against 5”.
– Adrian Beria
– Adrian Beria