After seven weeks of preparation punctuated by friendly matches, the serious things resume for the women of the DFCO. They begin, Saturday September 10, 2022 in Montpellier (kick-off 2:30 p.m.), their fifth season in a row in the elite, in D1. “Montpellier is a club that is always in the top five, analyzes the Dijon coach, Christophe Forest. We are expecting a big match there, we will have the opportunity to fight, but we must not go there with a flower in the gun.”. A good test, from the start, while the “Reds”, freshly installed at the new Saint-Apollinaire training center, have ambitions for this new season.
“Half a Blank Page”
The workforce of the DFCO was largely reshuffled this summer. A dozen departures, a dozen arrivals, and a group of 23 players available to the coachChristophe Forest, who is starting his second season at the club: “We’ll say it’s half a blank slate, since half of the players from last year left. We kept the ones we wanted to keep. It’s an interesting group, we’re counting on everything the world, we are lucky to have experienced players in all positions”.
The wardrobe for this 2022/2023 season is very cosmopolitanwith players from Canada, Poland, Denmark, Spain and Haiti. “Everything is going well, the news is very well integrated. There are a lot of foreign women. There is a language barrier at times, but we manage to understand each other”smiles the lateral Léna Goetsch, who ensures to manage in English.
Recruits who make an effort to learn French, she assures: “They try, it’s good, it’s both ways”. “Of the ten short stories, nine speak or understand French, reassures Christophe Forest, the coach. We will adapt as we go. my deputy (Guillaume Serra, Editor’s note) speaks good English, it is he who provides the translation”.
What objective?
Last season, the DFCO was scared. The maintenance had been officially validated on the last day, with a tenth final place (out of twelve teams). A situation no one wants to see again. “You have to acquire the maintenance as quickly as possible. The objective is not to relive last year’s season”, announces Léna Goetsch, who is starting her fourth season at the club. “The priority is maintenance, we’re going to do our Guy Roux, abounds Christophe Forest. Last year, we struggled until the end”.
Maintenance, or even more? “Appetite comes with eating”announces Christophe Forest, who wants “fear no one”. “You have to have ambitions, otherwise we won’t move forward”, also believes Léna Goetsch. After a meeting with the staff and the players, the objective is announced: aim for between 6th and 8th place.
And it won’t be an easy task, the DFCO having never finished, in its young history, a season in the elite beyond 8th place. The D1 is a three-speed championship, to simplify. At the very top, PSG and Lyon are vying for the title. Behind, Paris FC, Montpellier, Bordeaux must fight for 3rd place. And all the other teams, including Dijon, are struggling not to be drawn to the bottom of the table. “We would have to manage to pass teams like Reims or Guingamp (7th and 8th last season). When we arrive in Dijon, when we see the training conditions, we must have ambitions a little higher”hammers the coach.
A new training center…
Exit the Poussots. This season, the female DFCO joins the training center and the reserve in the building located opposite that of the Ligue 2 team, within the Saint-Apollinaire complex. “It’s positive. There are not many clubs that have these facilities. There is a little time to adapt, everything is not quite finished. We should have our competition ground in ‘by the end of September’, appreciates coach Christophe Forest. The match against Bordeaux, for the 2nd day of D1, will therefore be played on the lawn of Gaston Gérard, left free by the gentlemen who play … traveling to Bordeaux that weekend.
“The conditions are better, we have everything available”confirms Léna Goetsch, which highlights the comfort of the changing rooms, and access to balneotherapy for recovery. The players thus have their own field, a living room, a weights room, and a dedicated physiotherapy room, with hot and cold baths. “It’s really professional. The club is evolving. The president wanted to do something very good for the girls, we thank him for that, it’s up to us now to return the favor”, announces Christophe Forest.
… and a new manager!
Since early July, the female DFCO can count on a “manager”Sylvain Carric, former sports coordinator, for 13 years, from Fleury (4th in D1 last season). “He has a business card, an address book, it allowed us to recruit abroad, Christophe Forest is satisfied. He takes care of things that I took care of last year, travel or recruitment. Me, it gives me more freedom for the field with my staff”.
- The women of the DFCO – and the women’s teams of the region, in other sports – will be honored every Wednesday in 100% Sports between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.!