A secret regarding one of France’s most capped footballers has been revealed following the results of a DNA test. Marcel Desailly has been confirmed as the father of a 10-year-old girl after tests were ordered on the former French central defender in August when he visited the Genetics Institute Nantes Atlantique (IGNA).
The girl named Victoria had been subjected to the same tests as the 1998 World Cup champion in March of this year. Victoria’s mother, Cosma, had previously lived with the former French captain in Paris for several years.
According to biologists, the results of the test leave little room for error, saying, “The probability of paternity is greater than 99.9999%.”
In 2010, Cosma and Desailly initially met at a dinner in a Paris restaurant with mutual friends, while the former two-time UEFA Champions League winner was still married to his first wife Virginia, with whom he has four children.
Reports indicate that Desailly and Cosma would see each other a few more times before moving in together in an apartment on Rue de la Pompe, in the 16th arrondissement in Paris.
Cosma gave birth to Victoria in March 2014, when the former Olympique de Marseille defender was abroad. When he returned, the man who earned 116 caps for The Bluesthe sixth-most in team history, did not recognise the child as his own.
Cosma told The Parisian that Victoria “doesn’t understand why he (Desailly) doesn’t call her anymore,” adding, “She suffers, and I’m sad for her.”
She claims that in private, Desailly has never denied the paternitybut when the Brazilian-born mother asked him to recognise her publicly as his daughter, he cut off contact with Cosma and Victoria.
Marcel and his first wife Virginia split up in 2018, and eventually, he advised Cosma to relocate to Spain, where his sister and brother-in-law lived.
She and Victoria have been in Bilbao, Spain, for the last three years before making a trip to Paris in March. Desailly, according to Cosma, has paid some child support money to Victoriathough she claims the money he’s provided barely covers the tuition fees owed at the French school that Victoria is enrolled in Spain.
The Euro 2000 champion was eventually taken to court by Cosma, with Desailly’s lawyer, Françoise Majnoni, challenging the court’s jurisdiction without success.
Throughout the relationship between the former French #8 and Cosma, there were numerous allegations that he’d l acted violently towards her.
In early 2013, it was alleged that they had a dispute with her in the street, leading to Desailly allegedly throwing her against the wall of a house, before a few weeks later being accused of slapping her at the Hyatt Hotel.
Last spring, The Parisian obtained angry text messages from Desailly criticising Cosma for the media coverage of their case even though she’d initially proposed that he’d recognise Victoria discreetly before a notary.
In 2014, a court in Toulon ruled that the defender, nicknamed The Rock, was also the father of a 23-year-old child named Aida, who was born out of wedlock and who he didn’t want to recognise either.
There will be a hearing on December 10 about the lack of monetary support alleged by Cosma on Desailly, with the complainant seeking €5,000 monthly for child support from the former AC Milan centre-back.
GFFN | Joel Lefevre
