“There is nothing more rewarding than defending my players. » And for Marie L’Allier, it’s time to shine.
Published at 6:00 a.m.
There is action in the world of the FIFA-certified agent these days. She has just helped seven of “ [ses] girls” to sign contracts in the Super League of the North (SLN), a new professional women’s Soccer league in Canada. Four of them signed with the Montreal Roses.
“I’m proud, I’m happy! “, said L’Allier during an interview with The Press. We met her last week at a hotel in downtown Montreal. That morning, his client Mégane Sauvé, new color wearer of the Roses, was presented to the media.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE ROSES OF MONTRÉAL
Mégane Sauvé and Marie L’Allier
For L’Allier, the return of Mégane Sauvé to Montreal, after a year and a half in Portugal, has a particular symbolism.
When I moved to become an agent, a player like Mégane, I worked very hard to have her trust, to represent her. I started asking her in 2020, I didn’t even have a client yet at that time. She listened to me!
Marie L’Allier
Both studied at the University of Montreal – Sauvé won two national championships with the Carabins, in 2017 and 2022. That’s where they met.
“At the start, I felt that she was very honest, the new left side of the Roses submitted to us. She will really listen to her athlete. From the beginning, it goes where I want to go. »
“The trigger”
Marie L’Allier, aged 31, is a lawyer. She specializes in business law for the Montreal boutique firm BLP Avocats, “a valuable career” for her, which remains her “priority”. “I am lucky to have bosses who support me and encourage me in this passion that I have for representing athletes, and in my practice in business and sports law. »
It is therefore at the same time that she acts as vigilante for her players.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, LA PRESSE
Marie L’Allier
Allier played soccer from the age of 5, playing in competitive circuits for years. She still practices her sport, but recreationally. The Montreal native also coached for 10 years, from the age of 17, until her bar exam. During this period, she built an important network of contacts in the coaching community and the sports world in Quebec. She knocks on several doors, and exchanges in particular with Marinette Pichon, today sports director (DS) of the Roses, as well as with Émilie Castonguay (assistant general manager of the Vancouver Canucks and former agent), Sasha Ghavami (football agent and investor ), Hassoun Camara (former soccer player, speaker and analyst), to name a few.
After 10 years, she is looking to hang up her coaching whistle, but not to “give up” on soccer.
This is where the “trigger” occurs.
“Amateur players found themselves in a situation with a club that did not want to release them,” says the lawyer. At that time, I was a little hesitant to get into it more, because I didn’t really know that area. It was sports law, but also administrative. »
On the other hand, her players experienced situations that made them “sad, anxious”, and which she found “frankly unfair”.
That gave me the push to say to myself: “OK, I’m going to take over the file, I’m going to represent them so that they can be released from that club.”
Marie L’Allier
-The club does not collaborate. Soccer Québec also supports the organization. Marie L’Allier and her players ultimately won their case before Canada Soccer, and they ended up being released.
“I understood that this path brought together my passions: law, business, football and the relational side. »
“It’s a pleasure to negotiate with her”
She became a lawyer at 24, then an agent at 27. In 2021, she co-founded the agency AMA Gestion sportif, alongside her former partners Ali Gerba and Amro Radwan.
But today she stands on her own feet, and focuses solely on women’s football. A discipline which, obviously, has the wind in its sails.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY PHILVIEWS
Miranda Smith, new Ottawa Rapid player, and Marie L’Allier
To develop her network in Europe, she put her “pure passion” for soccer to good use, “soliciting” players, clubs, agents, recruiting directors with “cold calls” and through social networks. She made several trips to visit clubs in France (Paris FC), Portugal (Benfica, Sporting), Sweden (Hammarby), Denmark, Spain, which allowed her to “strengthen her relationships” and in “developing new ones”.
This entire journey today makes Marie L’Allier an agent “who knows football” and with whom “it’s a pleasure to negotiate”, Marinette Pichon tells us.
The two have obviously interacted frequently in recent months, as the SLN teams are being built for the inaugural season.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, LA PRESSE
Marinette Pichon, sports director of the Montreal Roses
She is a woman who always puts her player’s interests first.
Marinette Pichon, sports director of the Montreal Roses
The DS of the Roses is a former star of the French national team, long holder of the goals record for the Blues. If she mentions it, it is because she must have seen, throughout her career, agents who did not have the players’ interests at heart. Isn’t it?
“There are always facts that mark you in life. When you ask agents, they don’t respond immediately, they pass up opportunities for players, and they find themselves without a club. […] I find it disrespectful on the part of agents when you end up not considering potential approaches, whether good or bad. »
This does not seem to be a fault of Marie L’Allier.
“He’s not someone who’s going to take you into conditions that don’t look good,” emphasizes Mégane Sauvé. She wants the best [pour ses joueuses]and not just make money. »
For the main person concerned, all this goes without saying.
“I work a lot in the morning, at noon, in the evening, sometimes at night,” she says. [Quand elle était au Portugal]Mégane made the jump when I responded to… interesting times! But that’s part of the sacrifices. It’s such a passion for me. I want to say that it makes everything easier. »
The SLN, “very competitive”
Aside from the biggest European clubs, the SLN’s salary and working conditions are “very competitive” with what is found elsewhere in the world, affirms Marie L’Allier. And sometimes even go “well beyond”. The minimum salary there is $50,000, which is “higher” than the average for European clubs, she says. “And we are starting to have tangible proof that the level is going to be very interesting”, with the profile of the players who are arriving. What also “encourages” him are the agreements with the broadcasters RDS, TSN, - and CBC. “It brings a lot of credibility, eyes. It may seem trivial, but the way matches will be filmed, a European league will look at that and say: “OK, it’s sharp !” » Allier spoke with the six SLN clubs. His observation is that they “don’t want it to feel like it’s a first year. They are trying to raise the level by drawing inspiration from what is done in the NWSL [aux États-Unis] and in other top global leagues.”
