On Tuesday, and for a week, coaches from the Swiss Football Federation landed in the most beautiful city in the world. On the cards for their stay: a week of training, made up of different exchanges with various components of OGC Nice. Including a certain Lucien Favre...

In mid-February, around 15 French coaches came to visit the Red and Blacks for a BEPF training scheme. At the start of this month, the accent is rather different. It comes from the lakes and the mountains. For one week, six coaches, accompanied by the Head of Training and an Instructor, have set up home in the Plaine du Var. Their programme: discussions about and observations of the development of the Azuréen club.

The structure of the week’s training: the relationship between doctor and coach; prevention work; the physical preparation; the mental aspect; the relationships between members of staff; between the physical work of the academy and the professional sides; the organisation of the training ground; the transition to the first team; the common objective; here are just a few of the themes that will be explored during the stay.

In order to do so, the delegation will speak with Lucien Favre (their fellow countryman), Alain Wathelet (Academy Director), Laurent Bonadei (Coach of the N2), Alexandre Dellal (Assistant coach in charge of physical preparation) and Florian Payet (Academy Fitness Coach) for the sporting side of things; Jean-Philippe Gilardi (Head of Medical for Le Gym) for the medical aspects and Thomas Sammut (Psychological coach for the first team) for the mental aspects.

He said it  

Yves Débonnaire, Instructor - Swiss Football Federation

“The idea of the group trips came to me from François Blaquart. To go somewhere alone, it means you are alone in writing the report. Here, the goal is to live the football, to debate. Why Nice? Because the coach is called Lucien Favre and he is doing an excellent job. OGC Nice and M. Dall’Aglio (Sporting Coordinator), our contact, have been marvellous in terms of the organisation and the welcome. He has put an excellent programme in place for us which doesn’t just look at the pros but also takes into account all aspects of the life of the club. That’s what we were looking for. Our first day was filled with information, the others will be too, I am sure. The idea behind these training trips, is to be a bit stronger in Switzerland. OGC Nice is a club with a human face, that’s where we need to be heading. Even though, honestly, what we have seen today scares us a bit, because in terms of the quality of the infrastructures and training, apart from a couple of clubs, we have work to do…” 

*In attendance

→ Ludovic Magnin, FC Zurich coach (Swiss First Division).

→ Anthony Braizat, FC Yverdon coach, (Swiss Third Division).

→ Laurent Gasser, Assistant coach at Stade Lausanne (Swiss Third Division). 
→ Marinko Jurendic , FC Aarau coach (Swiss Second Division)
→ Alessandro Mangiaratti, U18 coach of Team Tessin, Assistant of the Swiss U17s side
→ Romano Umberto, former coach of FC Winterthour (Swiss Second Division)

→ Reto Gertschen, Head of Training - Coaches

→ Yves Débonnaire, Instructor.

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