Sonia Souid: “The world of football is a jungle” – International – France

While this is not the central subject of your book, you remember from the introduction by looking for your name on Google, your past of Miss Auvergne and candidate for Miss France is constantly mentioned when it comes to Evoke your professional activity. Is it anecdotal in your journey?

We can say it, since it only represents five weeks of my life in everything. It is like a tattoo that you did younger and that you want to remove. At the same time, it's part of your story. In my case, it made me deviate from my initial trajectory since I was registered in the first year of medicine and that, when you miss five weeks of lessons, all the students will tell you, it is impossible to catch up behind. Apart from that, I discovered a world that I did not know and it made me want to know anything other than the framework in which I grew up, that of a Muslim family of Algerian origin who lives in A district north of Clermont-Ferrand.

What is the starting point for writing this book, exactly?

It is a kind of alignment of planets. Through my journey, I undergone for four years a displaced behavior from the former president of the FFF (Christmas Le Graët Distens these accusations firmly, he who saw his business for moral and sexual harassment to be classified without follow -up, for lack of sufficiently characterized offense, note) ; I also represented Kheira Hamraoui who underwent an immense injustice in the case which opposed him to Aminata Diallo (also client of Sonia Souid at the time of the facts, editor's note); And I became a mom. By gaining age and experience, I felt myself pushing wings and legitimacy to convey a message that I chose as a title: Don't touch my IQ. It is a way of saying that, on the one hand, my body belongs to me and that, on the other hand, my brain must be respected. Besides, I think I use this slogan to set up an association that would support women who would have experienced the same thing as me.

You also name a good number of actors in the French football community, and not necessarily in good. What are you expecting for reactions?

I assume to be someone cash and I am ready to deal with the consequences that this story will cause because I am a strong woman and accomplished professionally. I also hope to bring an awareness of male leaders so that they make the lines move by letting their chance more luck with competent women, because inequalities are still too important in the world of sport.

You write precisely that some men do not see in you ” that a simple body “And that others” understood that [tu] also had a brain ». Nobody never seen you only as a brain by ignoring the body?

If, at almost 40 years old, finally, I have the feeling that I am respected as a professional, and it is already a victory for me on a daily basis. But it was an obstacle course. When I passed the competition for my FFF agent license in 2010, out of the 400 candidates, there were 18 to be received and I was the only woman. Today, women still represent less than 5% of agents in France, and it's hard to exist in an ultra-competitive and male world.

Do the accusations you send at Christmas Le Graët during an interview with BFM in January 2023 also aim to shed light on what women suffer in this environment?

From this disappointment to Christmas Le Graët was born immense anger that almost made me abandon my job. This is why today, I encourage to denounce these kinds of situations, because all women lived one, where they felt lowered and humiliated, regardless of their profession. And silence is no longer an option.

After this episode, your partner Patrick Esteves tries to “reassure” you by saying that ” Not all men in this environment do not behave ». But is that really what we want to hear at that time?

Patrick is a very realistic person and he also warned me that it would be neither the first nor the last time. I would not have liked to hear something else, because we do not live in the world of bisounours: the world of football is a jungle in which we swallow a pack of snakes. You have to be aware of it, especially when you are a woman who intends to impose on it.

Your mother, she one day you say that “All men are dogs »including your father and brother. However, the first allowed you to get started as an agent at the Emirates, where he worked and the second worked with you several years. SO, « not all men » Or not?

(Laughter.) For the anecdote, I had just learned that my boyfriend at the time, a Ligue 1 player, deceived me with the daughter of his club president when we were 10 days from the exams of my second first Year of medicine! And instead of reassuring me, my mom has chosen to be cash, but she still thinks today, and good luck to win her respect when you are male gent. It saddens me that men stick by saying « not all men » When we talk about an assault, but despite everything, no, not all of them are our enemies. I rather see them as allies: as they are often the ones who have the decision -making power, we need them to move the lines. For me, feminism is above all a question of solidarity between women. This is why in my scale, I was the first to embark on the representation of players, when it was volunteer and that I insisted so much to convince a president to entrust the reins of a male professional team to a woman (Helena Costa in Clermont in 2014, editor's note).

This president, so as not to appoint it, is Claude Michy. You say in your book that it was you who served as an intermediary for the resale of the club at Switzerland Ahmet Schaefer in 2018. At that time, Michy would have demanded that you curl it media on the subject for six months, without What he would not pay you the second half of your committee. What interest did it have in doing this?

I grew up 300 meters as the crow flies from Gabriel-Montpied. When I was in CM2, I saw all the stages of the renovation site from my classroom. But as I lived in a disadvantaged district of Clermont, these 300 meters were actually light years. And then one day, I became the one behind the sale of a professional club. A bit as if a real estate agent accustomed to selling two-pieces sold a castle overnight. His rating increases and I, if I communicate on the subject, the media were necessarily going to talk about it and that, I think that did not please Claude Michy, who had to say that we were going to talk about him less. So I kills myself because the commission was too important after all the efforts I had made.

Obviously, six months later, the subject would no longer be one.

And what hurt me the most is not to have been able to communicate on a file that happened at my place, in my city and my club of heart. Even today, supporters do not necessarily know that I was involved in the sale, but I am very proud to have helped to make Clermont shine and advance.

You name another person who seems to have not recognized you at your fair value: Corinne Diacre, which you also bring to the bench of Clermont Foot to replace Helena Costa. Your two profiles are alike in view of this struggle to win as a woman in a male environment. But then, what differentiates you?

It is true that in Clermont, she does not do less well than her predecessors, but we still made her drool. It was said that she was badly frozen, that she didn't smile … Would we do that with a male coach? I don't think! The main difference between us is that I am a woman who wants to help women and that, in my opinion, Corinne Diacre does not have that in her. She knows who allowed her to sign at the club, and I would have liked her to close to me once in office, that I can chat with her, to offer things as an agent. It would have allowed us to have a mutually enriching relationship. In fact, she has never assumed her pioneer role, and today, when we ask their models to girls who want to become a coach, they never quote Corinne Diacre. Me, I am aware of being on my scale and I still fight today for all future little Sonia.

The goal of the weekend was scored in Ligue 2, and it is worth the detour