Who is Ali Zarrak, responsible for Pro 2 and in conflict with Jean-Pierre Papin, OM legend and coach of the reserve team?
We must admit, we sometimes get lost. Sports coordinator, sports advisor or football director, it is difficult to find the nuances in these new names appearing in the organization charts of football clubs. It was more fluid with the sports director alone. Ali Zarrak, 32, symbolizes this change in the world of football. He arrived at OM last January as head of Pro 2, the reserve team which plays in National 3 and coached by Jean-Pierre Papin.
For several weeks its presence has been causing problems at the 1991 Ballon d'Or. We can also easily assume that Ali Zarrak has retained the reflexes of a recruiter. Did he come to OM for this? He is known in any case in this costume. If he stayed almost two years in Le Havre as a recruiter (December 2020-November 2022), this close friend of Mehdi Benatia, OM sports advisor, did not last forever at AJ Auxerre (December 2022-March 2023) nor at FC Lorient.
“I’m warning you cousin, next week…”
At Merlus, Ali Zarrak arrived in May 2023 as recruitment coordinator (another new job?), before leaving seven months later. He will be joined in Marseille in July 2024 by Aziz Mady Mogne, coordinator (definitely) of the Lorient sports project. If recent news linked him with JPP, Ali Zarrak had already experienced problems with a member of OM. “I’m warning you cousin, next week, I won’t come to your shitty game where you have to drive four hours,” Chancel Mbemba threw him last summer.
The central defender, then relegated among the undesirables, was dismissed for his behavior deemed disrespectful. And for refusing to submit to medical examinations imposed by the club, Mbemba had 23 days of salary withdrawn. The decision was recently invalidated by the LFP. The DR Congo captain will get his money back.
