RAPHAEL GIRARDOT. Raphaël Giradot has signed for Red Star 93. A twenty five years old defender, from Lons-le-Saunier has previously played with Louhans-Cuiseaux, Brive, Châtellerault, Besançon, Dunkerque & Pau.
PRE-SEASON. Before the start of the season for the Reserves, Christophe Fiattes' boys (CFA 2) have three friendlies planned. At Bauer, 22nd July against Moissy-Cramayel, Wednesday 26th versus Troyes and the 29th against Evry. All matches start at 4pm CET.
NATIONAL. Alès will be there at the start of the season, on the 5th August. There remains one question mark, still, that being Amiens, who have appealed against the reinstatement of Nice in D2. The outcome will be determined on the 25th July, just three days before the D2 season kicks off.
DEFEAT AT LAVAL. Third pre-season defeat at Laval, Red Star 93 going down by three goals to one. Milton scored the goal for Red Star. More details to follow today. Next friendly is on Saturday 22nd July, 6pm CET at Marville versus Amiens, newly-relegated to the National, before a trip on the following Saturday to Rouen, again at 6pm CET.
DAVID FANZEL. David Fanzel (pictured) has hung up his boots. Despite it being a somewhat bad memory for Red Star supporters, last years' League Cup semi-final then final in which Gueugnon beat Paris SG remains the highlight of a long career for David. Also included in his honours list is promotion with Gueugnon to D1, and before that an outstanding five year spell with Red Star. From there his path led him to Gueugnon, Nancy and Le Mans before one final fling with Gueugnon. A nice guy who will be missed at the start of this season. Good luck, David for the future.
SITE. Next week there will be less updates to the site due to holidays. But afterwards it's back to business as usual, with our fantastic detailed guide to the National 2000. Don't miss it !
Updated 19th July THIRD FRIENDLY. This evening Red Star 93 play Laval in a friendly. Laurent Viaud should make his debut for Laval, a player who has featured at Angers, Monaco, Rennes then Estramadura (D2 Spain). Updated 18th July LAVAL – RED STAR 93. Tomorrow evening, 7pm CET at Cissé-le-Vivien, Red Star take on Laval in a friendly. There they will be up against former Red Star man Guilhermo Mauricio, in his second season with the club from Mayenne. Laval will be without the services of another ex-Red Star player Stéphane Crucet (now at Sochaux) as well as other departures El-Khandaf (Wasquehal), Pichot (Lille), Rivière (Amiens) and Mulak (Sedan). New faces include Rouxel (Strasbourg), N'Tumpa (Grenoble), Delporte (Lens) and Yapi (Rennes). Updated 17th July JURY STILL OUT. Following on from a 2-2 draw in a "training" match versus Saint-Maur Lusitanos, where the two Red Star goals were scored by Aïchour & Ouejdide, on Saturday Red Star 93 faced a side made up of out-of-contract players at Marville. Still missing were Branger, Bayiha, Oponga and Saci as well as Le Maux (injured) and El Othmani. The Audoniens lost 2-1, despite opening the score with a superb 15th minute free-kick from Saragaglia. On the half-hour Dagnogo equalised with a neat lob, then in the 53rd minute Bouquet won the game for the UNFP. Updated 13th July CFA 2. Red Star 93 reserves get their CFA 2 campaign underway with two home fictures - the first on Sunday 20th August, 3pm CET at the Stade Pablo Néruda (Saint-Ouen) where they welcome Châlons, then one week later, the 27th against Moissy-Cramayel. The 2nd September sees a trip to Saint-Dizier, then 20 the 10th at home to Evry. The fill calendar will be published on this site at the beginning of next week. Updated 12th July NEXT MATCH. On Saturday July 15th, Stade Marville 6pm CET, Red Star 93 take on a team made up from out-of-contract players. A chance for the supporters to see the new arrivals, as well as the occasion for some of the opposition to find themselves a new club.
Updated 11th July UNDER 17S. Red Star 93 have been placed in the group consisting of Auxerre, Brétigny, Jarville, Magny, Metz, Mulhouse, Nancy, Reims, Saint-Dizier, Strasbourg and Troyes. Red Star no longer face Caen (last years' finalists) or Paris SG (group champions). Red Star 93, semi-finalist last season will meet Strasbourg (eliminated by Red Star 93 in the 1/8th finals), Auxerre (Gambardella Cup winners) and Magny, who beat Red Star in the Gambardella Cup. Updated 10th July FRIENDLY MATCH. Other than
Jean-Marc Branger, still recovering, Patrick Van Kets (coaching course at Clairefontaine), Camille Oponga, Hakim Saci and Gilbert Bayiha, 24 players took part in Saturdays' friendly at Chevrières. Updated 7th July UNDER SCRUTINY. Pierre Repellini and Jean-Luc Girard are treating the friendly at Beauvais as an opportunity to review the players they have on hand. Two players are undergoing trials - Ghanaian international, Paulo Sani and Raphaël Girardot, defender, formerly with Pau, Louhans-Cuiseaux and Besançon. After a post-match debriefing on Sunday, the players will have the afternoon free before leaving for a five day seesion at Lésigny, Monday at 11 o'clock. Updated 6th July FIXTURE LIST. The fixture list should soon be published by the Football Federation. It will appear on this site as soon as we have it... Updated 5th July FRIENDLY. First match of the season will be a friendly against Beauvais. The match will take place on Saturday July 8th at Chevrières (Oise). Beauvais, guided by coach Jacky Bonnevay achieved promotion to D2 last season.
Updated 4th July DSR. The new season will kick off for Sunday 10th September. Red Star 93 will be in group B along with Bobigny, Chatou, Le Chesnay, Paris SG (fourth XI), Issy-les-Moulineaux, Levallois (reserves), CA Paris, Tremblay, Gonesse, Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône & Sarcelles.
RED STAR YOUTH. The under-17s of Red Star 93 (see photo below) get their season underway on the 3rd September, a Sunday, when they welcome Magny. The under 15s however have to wait a further week before a home game against Chantilly on the 10th.
OVER FIFTY COUNTRIES ! Since the creation of this site, visitors from more than fifty countries all over the world have visited the site !
STEVE MARLET. Steve hasn't forgotten Red Star - in an interview in France Football last week, Steve stated that his best memory of football was his first pro contract with Red Star 93. Steve is in tip top form, banging the goals in with his new club Lyon in the pre-season friendlies. He was on the score sheet again last night at the Parc des Princes against Bordeaux.
SAMUEL MICHEL & TED AGASSON. The former has already featured in D1 in the colours of Rennes, the latter (pictured) will be making his debut in the top flight.
FROM THE NATIONAL TO DIVISION 1. Red Star 93 are the leaders in the National of the clubs to have supplied players to D1 clubs - Vincent Doukantie (Strasbourg), Karim Fellahi (Saint-Etienne) and Abdoulaye Meïté (Marseille) - note also the other important movements, such as J. Rémy (Martigues to Strasbourg), Armand (Clermont Foot to Nantes) and Sekli (GFCO Ajaccio to Troyes).
Red Star 93 (1st half) : Itandje, Perron, Tacalfred, Girardot, Thiam, Pizzo, Saragaglia, Abda, Van Kets, Ouejdide, Gomis.
(2nd half) : Itandje, F. Mary, Faye, Deom, F. Diawara, N'Goma, Sirufo, Milton, Cascarino, Serreau, Aïchour.
UNFP : Tudella (Vincent), Terrien, Edouard, Raymond, Saxemard, Durpes, Serredjun, Guerrero, Malheiro, Le Bert, Dagnogo, Bouquet, Merdy, Hereson,Boussaïd, Gouaze.
ALES OR SAINT-MAUR LUSITANOS ? Alès appear to still have financial problems, and rumours circulate that their place in the National could still be taken by Saint-Maur Lusitanos. More to follow.
AZIZ BELISSAOUI. The unlucky Aziz Belissaoui, out of contract with Red Star 93, is amongst 140 currently in a similar plight. He did play for the UNFP in a game Amiens which they won 3-2 and Aziz scored one of the goals. He was also on the mark against Valenciennes. Other Red Star players with the UNFP are Joël André, Alain Durand and Benjamin Clément.
HAKIM SACI & CAMILLE OPONGA. Still no news, but Hakim Saci is in contact with D2 club Montpellier.
NEXT TEST. On Wednesday, Red Star are at Laval for a friendly. Their hosts have beaten the UNFP 5-1, and drawn 2-2 with Bohemians Prague.
TOURNOI CLUB EUROPE. Three Red Star players are currently involved in this competition, Steve Marlet (Lyon), Karim Fellahi (Saint-Etienne) and Abdoulaye Meïté (Marseille). Concerning the latter, still no news concerning his loan spell at Martigues (D2) ?
LOUHANS-CUISEAUX. Red Stars' first league opponents lost 3-0 in a friendly to AC Ajaccio (D2).
ALAIN GUEGUEN. Former Red Star physio Alain Guéguen is now with Stade Français CASG, Champion de France in Rugby Union.
FRIENDLY AT MARVILLE. For the match against the UNFP, Saturday at Marville, the entire squad will take part. A third friendly has been arranged for the 19th of July against Laval at Cissé le Vivien.
TRAINING 16-21 JULY. The training programme for this period is as follows: Marville training in the morning from 10am CET, then in the afternoon at 4-30pm CET, except Tuesday morning, Wednesday (match) Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. On Saturday 22nd there is a friendly at La Courneuve against Amiens.
UNDER 15'S. Avion, Beauvais, Chantilly, Le Mée Sports, Lens, Saint-Leu, Wasquehal and Red Star 93 make up the group.
EVRY. Evry, relegated from the National last season have been demoted to the CFA 2 due to financial problems. Evry will now meet Red Star reserves, and La Chapelle-Luc have been "promoted" to the CFA in place of Evry.
NATIONAL. Red Stars' first league opponents Louhans-Cuiseaux went down 2-1 to Lyon in a friendly this weekend.
The lineup for the first half : Itandje, Perron, Faye, Saragaglia, Girardo, Sirufo, Serreau, N'Goma, Cascarino, Gomis, Milton, Thiam (see photo).
Second half : Itandje, Tacalfred, F. Mary, Deom, F. Diawara, Pizzo, Busuttil, Abda, El Othmani, Le Maux, Ouejdide, Aïchour, Sani
Only the young goalkeeper, Charles Itandje from the under-17's played the whole ninety minutes. Two triallists, defender Girardo and striker Sani also took part. The former played for forty or so minutes, whereas the latter only featured briefly in the second half. The 2-1 scoreline, to Beauvais, is rather incidental, as Beauvais were playing their third friendly in a week, but for Red Star it was the first outing of the season. Red Star procured three chances in the first half, a Tony Cascarino header from a cross by Mickaël Serreau; Gérald Milton went close before Brahim Thiam beat Weber with a right foot effort. Beauvais equalised just before the pause (Bagdad) before scoring again on the hour through Gonzales. Before making any judgements a few more friendlies are required and a bit more training. Then the season starts for real on Saturday 5th August.
PATRICK VAN KETS. Present at Chevrières, Patrick Van Kets didn't want to take any risks. Just back from his coaches' course at Clairefontaine, where he was in the company of Jean-Luc Girard, he said "During the week we played on synthetic surfaces, it would have been difficult to play today on a greasy surface. At the start of the season it is important to avoid risking injury, the season is long."
STADIUM. Chevrières, a few kilometers from Compiègne is in the countryside. A pity that the weather was inclement, but despite that more than 250 turned out to watch the game.
CAPTAIN. Brahim Thiam was the captain on Saturday, and also scored Red Stars' first goal of the season 2000-2001.
TRAINING. Today the squad leaves for Lésigny for a five day course, with training in the morning at Lésigny and in the afternoon at Ozoir. Next friendly, Saturday July 15th, at Marville versus the UNFP, a squad of out-of-contract players assembled by the players' union.
CIRCUS. Quote from Jean-Claude Bras following the election of Gérard Bourgoin as president of the French football league: "The Aulas Clan has made an error in appointing Bourgoin as president. They sould have chosen Le Graët."
CHAMPIONSHIP. Following a match on the 5th August at Louhans-Cuiseaux, Red Star 93 will play three "home" games in succession, receiving Alès (12/8) and Grenoble (26/8) as well as "travelling" to Marville on the 19th to play Noisy-le-Sec. The latter will be playing their home matches at Marville as the Stade S. Allende at Noisy-le-Sec no longer meets league ground grading standards.
GIRARD & VAN KETS. Coach and player were on a course this week at Clairefontaine, to take the BE1 examination.
BEAUVAIS. Beauvais drew 1-1 Wednesday against Wasquehal. Richard Akiana, former Red Star man replying to a goal from David Vairelles. Alexandre Clément suffered a serious injury during the match.
WHEN I'M PRESIDENT. The replacement of Ligue Nationale de Football president Noël Le Graët by Gérard Bourgouin presents a potential threat to the very existence of smaller D2 and National clubs. The arrangements for the distribution of TV revenue, set up by Le Graët and defended by Red Star president Jean-Claude Bras could be thrown into disarray by the appointment of the new man. Bourgouin, along with presidents Aulas (Lyon), Proisy (Strasbourg) and Bompart (Saint-Etienne) have always advocated "more for the big clubs". The big clubs, which sometimes risk relegation ! (PSG en 1999, l'OM en 2000...) There is the danger of seeing French football taking the direction of the NBA, with no relegation or promotion, a fear shared by Michel Platini in a press article. More to follow, no doubt.
UNDER 15S. Lens, Beauvais and Wasquehal will be the main opponents of Red Stars' under 15 team for next season.
BEAUVAIS, VERSION 2000-2001
Beauvais, Saturday evenings' opponents will already have played two matches before meeting Red Star 93. Last Saturday Le Mans beat the club from the Oise region 1-0, and last night they were due to play Richard Akianas' new club, Wasquehal.
The Beauvais squad, coached by Jacky Bonnevay is: Weber, Levet, Sanz, Borbiconi, Clément, Vairelles, Fischer, Assignon, Petitjean, De Freitas, Machado, Gonzalez, Moulin, Jacquesson, Girard, Demont, Charton.
From last years' team, departures are Karwat (Martigues), Savine & Florentin (Nancy), Lecocq & Sampil (Amiens), Diani (Metz), Ringot (Dieppe), whilst arrivals include Borbiconi (Louhans-Cuiseaux), Jacquessson (Reims), Assignon (Cannes), Petitjean (Amiens), Weber (Troyes), Gonzalez (Auxerre).
Jacky Bonnevay has decided to adopt a defensive approach, and said "To succeed in D2, we have to have a solid defence. I expect my team to make a mark during the friendly matches, because the players are playing for their places in the first team."
The first league match will be at home to relegated Montpellier.
CHALLENGE DE LA SPORTIVITE. Red Stars' under 17s were rewarded for their "fair-play" during the season, yesterday at La Défense.
FIRST GOAL FOR KARIM FELLAHI. A win for Saint-Etienne against a Croation club, but most importantly, the first goal for Karim Fellahi in the green shirt of Saint-Etienne.
From today, training will be biased towards physical preparation at the start. Jean-Marc Branger will not touch a ball for another two weeks, following Mays' finger operation. Confident and optimistic, though, Jean Marc said "This is good, I'll be in top condition ready for specific goalkeeper training in two weeks time."