From chores to double steaks, inside the rise of France’s first football academies | OneFootball

In 1974, under DTN Georges Boulogne, French clubs opened their first training centres, making football a trade to learn.

L'Équipe notes that Boulogne, the first National Technical Director, had flagged technical and physical gaps and, after founding the INF in 1972, urged clubs to start their own schools.

By March 1975, 23 clubs had applied, 19 from Division one excluding Bastia and four from Division two. From 1976 centres were compulsory in the top flight. Sochaux, Saint-Étienne and Nantes had long prioritised youth, with Nantes producing a first cohort in 1961 and Saint-Étienne formalising a centre in 1968.

Sochaux were already ahead. In 1949 they launched the École des Lionceaux, mornings on the pitch and afternoons learning Peugeot trades. When Bernard Genghini and Joël Bats arrived in August 1974 they found strict routines, two-a-day sessions and 20 hours of classes.

Workloads were brutal, with endurance blocks and diets that served Genghini double steaks. Physio drills even meant long walks to widen his chest. Coach Élie Tournier was austere yet innovative, a rigorous mentor.

Lyon’s centre, opened on 15 July 1974, felt gentler. Alain Olio recalls a family home in Oullins with the Bacots, trips to Tola Vologe in a small van, Canzio Capaldini’s humane touch and early trials with weights, accounting and English.

Results followed, roughly 40% of the first intake turned professional. In 1981 Sochaux reached the UEFA Cup semi-finals with about 10 homegrown players, a pointed answer to Boulogne’s 1974 jibe about a third-choice intake.

Source: L'Équipe