Arriving in September, the French international and double Olympic champion revealed that he was going to leave his training club to join Turkey.
The star of the French volleyball team Earvin Ngapeth will leave Poitiers in January, his “heart club» where he returned in mid-September after 13 years abroad, Stade Poitevin announced on Friday.
Ngapeth, crowned Olympic champion with the Blues this summer for the second time in a row, had signed a one-season contract with a departure clause in January. He activated it to probably commit until the end of the 2025-26 season with the Turkish club Fenerbahçe, we learned from a source close to the matter.
«Despite the efforts made to try to extend this beautiful story, Earvin received an offer he could not refuse“, indicated the club. Free since the end of his contract with Halkbank Ankara, Ngapeth joined the SPVB to everyone's surprise on September 19, agreeing to a significant financial sacrifice.
«It is with a heavy heart that I announce to you that I will not continue the adventure with the Alterna SPVB», Wrote the 33-year-old receiver-attacker on his Instagram account. “I honestly experienced a break of exceptional intensity at home, in Poitiers, in my club and my city of heart» he added. Ngapeth could return to the Turkish championship in January, one of the best in the world.
He would also find his coach last season in Ankara, the Serbian Slobodan Kovac, appointed to the post of coach of “Fener” on Thursday after the poor start to the season of the Istanbul club, only ninth in the Turkish championship and swept at home by the Italians of Monza (3-0) during the last day of the Champions League.
“Exceptional months”
The MVP of the 2021 and 2024 Olympic tournaments will play his last match with Stade Poitevin on December 27 at the Arena Futuroscope against Tours, his first training among the professionals who left in 2011 to begin a 13-year journey abroad, in Italy , Russia and Turkey.
But until this season he had never worn the Poitiers jersey, where his mother still lives and where he performed his first smashes and his first headlines, in the wake of his father Éric, who offered as coach at the Stade Poitevin its first championship title, in 1999.
«It was the right time to give a good boost to my club, to my city“, he explained to AFP upon his return. Ngapeth's return to the French championship, where only one gold medalist played in Paris (Nicolas Le Goff in Montpellier), had aroused unprecedented enthusiasm.
The Ligue A broadcaster, BeIN Sports, had modified its planned programming to broadcast as a priority the Poitiers matches, which attracted the public in large numbers. More than 2,200 spectators witnessed Ngapeth's first steps during a pre-season match. New partners, some unknown to the volleyball world, have committed to Stade Poitevin, which sold as many jerseys in the first week alone following Ngapeth's arrival as in two years.
«These few months have been exceptional for all of us: subscribers, volunteers, partner licensees and even beyond for French volleyball. Let's enjoy the next three home matches together and whatever happens, the adventure is not over», Underlined Stade Poitevin.
On a sporting level, the club, only 11th in the last regular season and absent from the play-offs since 2021, started the season with three successes and currently occupies second place in the championship. “I have no doubt about the success of the team this season and thank them again from the bottom of my heart for the trust and pleasure they have given me this season.“, wrote Ngapeth.
