The post-career of a high-level athlete is sometimes akin to jumping into the void without a parachute. For Jérémy Mathieu, winner of the Champions League with FC Barcelona alongside exceptional figures like Lionel Messi, the return to civilian life proved particularly brutal.
The ax fell in the spring of 2020. Victim of a ruptured cruciate ligament in his left knee while playing for Sporting CP, the former international defender had to hang up his crampons prematurely. Unable to prepare for this retirement, the player from Haute-Saône faces the full brunt of the psychological violence of this forced end clap.
Based in Bouches-du-Rhône, he tries to maintain a link with football at the amateur level, in Luynes, after going through a difficult period marked by a job as a salesman at Intersport in Plan-de-Campagne to clear his mind. A striking turnaround for someone who until shortly before shared the daily life of the biggest locker rooms in Europe.
“It’s very hard after your career”
The former Barcelona player does not hide this brutal transition.
“It’s very hard after your career, especially when it ends like that on the Crusaders, he told the microphone here.
Steve Mandanda said it very well: there is a little depression that happens naturally. »
Faced with the shock of the shutdown, retraining becomes a vital necessity as much as a new direction. Mathieu chose to move into youth coaching and is now preparing for his Football Coaching Certificate (BEF) with AS Aix-en-Provence as his first training ground. A carefully considered choice geared towards sharing: “I think I can bring more to young people than to adults. Regarding my career, I have a lot of details to give them and baggage to pass on. »
Upon arriving at the Aix club, the former international refuses the posture of knowing and favors learning step by step. He first settles into the role of attentive observer to integrate the teaching skills specific to the profession of educator. “I have a lot to learn. Learn to manage the emotions and reactions of young people, but also to manage a group,” he explains.
