Having just won a French attendance record and a co-leadership position in the championship, the Vandoeuvre women's volleyball club continues to make headlines. Between sporting success story and financial setbacks, the VNVB is probably one of the most notable teams in Lorraine of 2024. A look back at the exceptional year, of a club which is doing everything to survive.
Company
From daily life to major issues, discover the subjects that make up local society, such as justice, education, health and family.
France Télévisions uses your email address to send you the “Society” newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link at the bottom of this newsletter. Our privacy policy
The year 2024 of the Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy women's volleyball club risks remaining marked in the annals of the club, for a certain time in any case. The VNVB even took advantage of this end of the season to mark the history of their sport, by breaking the attendance record for a women's and men's volleyball championship match, filling the 5,698 seats at the Palais des Sports Jean Weille, the usual venue. from Sluc Nancy Basket.
A record that could never have been imagined years, or even a few months ago. Before taking a look in the rearview mirror of the year 2024, we must look a little further to realize the size of the feat. At the end of the 2021/2022 season, the club is in deficit. The financial director of volleyball (DNACG) then decided to administratively demote it to the second division, which would condemn the club to filing for bankruptcy and its disappearance. He was finally saved thanks to exceptional aid of €120,000 from the metropolis.
The VNVB is starting a new cycle, that of the economy: “ The first thing: you have to tighten the bolts » says club president, Patrick Venturini. “ At the time, we got carried away by the madness of the agents, the bidding wars. Today, we are at the minimum of the minimum. I have eight players on minimum wage, even the DNACG can no longer ask me to lower the payroll further. I can't go below » he admits.
For four years, the volleyball league has been trying to professionalize itself, sometimes to the detriment of the clubs, imposing constraints on them that are almost impossible to follow. So, you have to know how to adapt, let go of plan A, and take plan C or D: “ André Sa does not have an assistant, it is the coach of the training center who helps out. For the physical trainer, I am lucky that the SLUC was kind enough to lend me theirs. I don't have a marketing manager, it's a work-study student who acts as marketing manager » says a tired president. Sad reality of life in a first division volleyball club.
And yet, it is this same club, this staff, these players, who are writing the most beautiful page in their history. Sole leader of the championship, eight victories in a row in all competitions on the clock, and the Vandoperians who are even marching on Europe, with a qualification for a play-off to reach the quarter-finals of the CEV Cup, the equivalent of the second European Cup: “ What's crazy is that the club is in financial recovery and the worst thing is that it's getting results. Every year, I tighten the screw a little more. More André on produces results and everyone tells me: you see that you are getting there. But that's not how it should be. I am extremely lucky to have a guy like André, who is capable of performing with the few resources I give him. Result, we are first. It's madness » admits, lucky, Patrick Venturini.
Well established on its cloud, the club inevitably attracts attention with such results. Filling 5,698 places in Gentilly is the best proof of this, but not only: “ When I took over the club, there were 167 members, there are 382 today. I had an average of 400 spectators not so long ago, today there are 1400/1500 on average at the Nations Sports Park “. A fervor enabled by good results, coupled with an explosive game driven by a coach – André Sa – who works miracles with the little the club gives him. But behind this beautiful sporting cloud, the club remains financially exhausted. And his judgment could come at the end of the season: “ We were put on a settlement plan, and we had three years to repay the debt. We had a positive first year at + €23,000. We made +108,000 last year » explains President Patrick Venturini.
But the problems of yesterday continue today. Documents were not provided in time, Vandoeuvre learned, again, at the end of the year, that he was threatened with exclusion from the play-offs and administrative demotion at the end of the season. If filling Gentilly can help temporarily, the European Cup course costs the club money, more than it brings. A prize pool has also been launched by the club to help it in its wonderful journey. But the VNVB remains under threat: “ Let someone tell me: Patrick, what you’re doing is great, it’s good. Now we no longer need words, we need actions! I know it's difficult. The metropolis helped us a lot, but did everyone realize the extent of what a Women's A League club is? ».
A cry of alarm, which the club has been raising for four years already. However, four years ago, the VNVB was not doing so well sportingly, was not leading the championship and was not beating the odds in the Euro Cup. Its year 2024 is the most beautiful in its history, shouldn't the story continue? Between exploits on the field and a lot of savings, the club hopes that this season will not be the last and that all those involved in the world of Lorraine sport will be able to help it get through this once and for all.
