Barely arrived, Earvin Ngapeth leaves Poitiers and the French Volleyball championship

He will not have remained in his “heart club” just over three months. Earvin Ngapeth, double Olympic champion with the French Volleyball team, will leave Poitiers in January, Stade Poitevin announced on Friday, November 29. The Blues' star player returned “home” in mid-September after thirteen years spent abroad.

After the Paris 2024 Games, Ngapeth signed a one-season contract with Poitiers, but with a departure clause in January. The player chose to activate it to join the Turkish club Fenerbahçe, indicates Agence France-Presse.

“Despite the efforts made to try to extend this beautiful story, Earvin received an offer he could not refuse”indicated the French 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 SPVBwrote 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 the city of my heart. »

An unprecedented craze

Ngapeth could return to the Turkish championship in January, one of the best in the world. He would also find his coach for the 2023-2024 season in Ankara, the Serbian Slobodan Kovac, appointed to the post of coach of “Fener”, Thursday, after the poor start to the season of the Istanbul club, only ninth in the Turkish championship and swept away home by the Italians of Monza (3-0) during the last day of the Champions League.

Ngapeth, elected best player 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 professional team, leaving in 2011 to begin a thirteen-year career at the abroad, in Italy, Russia and Turkey.

Until this season, he had never worn the Poitiers jersey, where his mother still lives and where his father, Éric, offered, as coach, his first championship title at Stade Poitevin in 1999.

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 programming to primarily broadcast 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 games together and whatever happens, the adventure is not over.”underlined Stade Poitevin.

On a sporting level, the club, only 11^e from 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.