Having just passed under the American flag, Strasbourg is holding the one who must embody its new project: Patrick Vieira, legend of the France team, is the new coach of the Alsatian club, Racing announced on Sunday, specifying that he had committed for three years.
At 47, he succeeds Frédéric Antonetti, thanked last Tuesday despite the success of the “maintenance operation” which had been entrusted to him on his arrival in Alsace in February. The Corsican allowed Strasbourg to climb from 17th to 15th place in Ligue 1, avoiding a descent into the second division which seemed possible after a very difficult first part of the season. But the club and Antonetti have agreed “by mutual agreement” to stop there, Strasbourg announced on Tuesday. “A new cycle is starting and I am convinced that it is better to end on this good note. We both agree, ”assured Marc Keller, president of the club, in the press release formalizing the departure of Antonetti.
“Patrick’s arrival should allow us to make further progress and take a step forward,” he said in the press release announcing Vieira’s arrival on Sunday evening. “He fits the profile we were looking for: a coach with international experience, also having a good knowledge of Ligue 1 and young players.” With Patrick Vieira, it is an icon of French football who will settle as soon as the recovery on the bench of Meinau.
Vieira has 107 selections for the France team, including 21 with the captain’s armband, and a career that has seen him chain to prestigious clubs (Arsenal, Juventus Turin, Inter Milan, Manchester City). His record as a player speaks for him: world and European champion with the Blues, multiple champion of England and Italy, Vieira had a well-filled trophy cabinet when he retired in 2011. Ex- French international (6 selections) too, Marc Keller also found himself three times in blue with Vieira, in 1997.
According to these criteria, Vieira seems to correspond to the ambition displayed by the new owners of Racing, the American consortium BlueCo which took control of the club last week. The group, which also owns the English club Chelsea, wants to take the Alsatian club to a new level. “The objective is to allow Racing to be even more ambitious and competitive in a world of football which has changed considerably,” said Marc Keller in the press release announcing the takeover of the club by BlueCo.
Since his retraining as a coach, however, Patrick Vieira has never lifted a trophy. In New York (2016-2018), Nice (2018-2020) and Crystal Palace, where his mandate started in 2021 ended abruptly last March for insufficient results, he encountered as many disappointments as successes.
In Nice, during what was until now his only experience on a French bench, the premature interruption of the 2019/2020 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic had allowed him to snatch 4th place, synonymous qualifying for the Europa League. It was precisely after a defeat against Bayer Leverkusen in this competition, Nice’s fifth in six group stage matches, that the club leaders had thanked Vieira during the season, in December 2020. Nice was then only 11th in Ligue 1.
Vieira is expected to join the Strasbourg workforce on Monday, for the resumption of training for the Alsatian club with the prospect of the 2023/24 championship, which Racing will attack by receiving Lyon on the weekend of August 12 and 13. “Today, a new cycle begins for Racing and it is exciting for a coach to be able to build something while relying on the values that make the strength of a club,” he said in the press release on Sunday. announcing his arrival in Alsace.