ChristopheVAFC

With the departure of Ben Chorley, the trio of Dirk Gerkens (chairman of VAFC) and Yoann Godin (CEO of VAFC), with the support of Mathieu Frison (sports coordinator), are in charge of the club and its decisions.

I hope we have a good season. In any case, announcing the new coach and our 1st summer recruit now, while the other clubs are on holiday, sends out a message that Valenciennes won't be making up the numbers next year. All that's left to do now is tackle the squad, which is going to change a lot with around fifteen departures and around the same number of arrivals. The most difficult thing will be to make the right choices that will pay off on the pitch. We believe!

Recent news: New coach and 1st summer recruit: and

Ben Chorley arrived at the same time as Sport Republic here at Valenciennes in July 2023, while Mathieu Frison was recruited in January 2024. The two people are totally different (one having never worked in France, the other having been at LOSC Lille and having already taken part in sporting missions). Mathieu's a good fit because he's familiar with the way the game works here in France and he's brought in some good players this winter, like Ousmane Touré and Axel Camblan, for example. I don't know if this will be a winning choice, but I hope it will work out in any case.

Valenciennes FC

The recent departure of Ben Chorley and that of coach Vincent Hognon yesterday herald the start of a major sporting project. On the sporting director's side, our current head of scouts, Mathieu Frison, should be appointed sporting director, and on the coach's side, Stéphane Moulin will replace Vincent Hognon. All this will be made official during the course of the week, and the club will immediately begin work on the squad, which is expected to include between 15 and 20 departures, as well as around 15 new recruits.

New coach to be announced soon! Mercato : Stéphane Moulin tout proche de Valenciennes

Monday's press review:

https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1586813/article/2025-05-18/rc-lens-will-still-annonce-son-depart His partner Emma Saunders, a journalist with Sky Sports, was admitted to hospital in March with infectious encephalitis and put into a coma. She was present at Bollaert on Saturday evening. Signed for three seasons last summer, the Belgian-British coach has decided to return home to stay with his partner in England. "I've been in France for four years now and I've had some really intense times. There are a lot of reasons for this choice, but above all this one (editor's note: his wife's state of health). I should point out that I haven't signed anything anywhere yet. There is interest. There always has been.

https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1586465/article/2025-05-16/national-valenciennes-large-vainqueur-aubagne-dans-un-dernier-sursaut-d-orgueil

https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1586043/article/2025-05-15/vafc-le-chantier-est-partout-vincent-hognon-evoque-la-saison-et-son-avenir

Hello friends, I hope you're well! Last game of the season tonight for Valenciennes, who travel to Aubagne (not far from Marseille). Nothing to expect from this match, it's holiday time tonight for the players and the start of work on next season for the club. I'll share with you a press article about the coach, who says he's not sure he'll be on the bench next year... Tonight's match kicks off at 7.30pm French time as usual. The match link: Allez VA !

Valenciennes fans had a number of messages to get across in the stands yesterday: ‘SR: Our club finally deserves to relive great emotions: make the right choices’. ‘In National as in Ligue 2: Football is Saturday’. ‘Gerkens: It's time to get rid of some incompetents’. ‘SR: Don't spoil the good administrative work with bad sporting choices’. ‘Chorley: Game Over ‘Chorley: The door is wide open for you’. ‘Tonight: Knock-Out Nancy’. ‘25/26: 0 excuses: 1 objective: League 2’ ‘Next season: Compulsory promotion’.

Press review again: https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1584005/article/2025-05-09/battu-par-nancy-va-mesure-encore-l-ecart-qui-l-separe-des-meilleurs

press review: https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1584007/article/2025-05-09/la-saison-prochaine-montee-obligatoire-valenciennes-l-amour-se-mele-l-impatience

It's the right time for me, I think, to test players who haven't had much of a chance during the season. In any case, we need to start working now for the future.

It's the last home match of the season for Valenciennes, who host Nancy (recent champions and about to move up to Ligue 2). No sporting stakes other than preparing for next season haha. Kick-off 7.30pm French time and the match can be followed via the link below: Allez VA!

It was one of the objectives following our descent into the 3ᵉ division last year to have fewer players under contract (35 players before / 26 this year). No limits imposed here in France, but I think having a smaller squad allows us to work better and for all the players to be involved in the season too. We had the biggest budget in the league and that doesn't make any difference in my opinion. We have a bigger budget because we have the infrastructure and the way we operate (stadium, training centre, for example), which some clubs in our division don't have (e.g. Aubagne or Paris 13). Once again, SR realised a little too late that the current system wasn't working and needs to change the way it works for next season, and indeed the idea is to put people who speak fluent French in key positions, which Ben wasn't doing. It's going to be a busy summer for SR haha

As for Ben's successor, I think there will be one: - Yoann GODIN (CEO) - Dirk GERKENS (Chairman) and maybe some members of Sport Republic: - Dragan SOLAK - Rasmus ANKERSEN The appointment will be made a few days after the end of the season, in my opinion.

The sporting aspect remains the most difficult to build in a football club and even if we make the best choices, we're not sure that it will work afterwards...

Ben's departure was no surprise either, given the sporting results achieved since sport republic arrived at Valenciennes. Ben is a friend and I wish him all the best for the future. I also wish his future successor every success and hope we have a better season next year. From now on, after Ben's official departure, we won't be able to say it's his fault haha.

press review: https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1583450/article/2025-05-08/vafc-c-est-termine-entre-ben-chorley-et-valenciennes

https://www.va-fc.com/articles/28320 Thank you for the work Ben, and now it's time for next season's projects.

I still think, and will continue to think, that this medium is far from reliable, unlike other reputable media in this field.

I get the impression that a lot of people think that Ben Chorley is to blame for everything at the club: ‘seats are too expensive’ Ben's fault ‘Mathieu Michel concedes a goal’ Ben's fault ‘Mathias Oyewuzi doesn't score’ Ben's fault ‘It's raining in Valenciennes’ also Ben's fault... I'm willing to accept that he's partly to blame for the team's lack of sporting success, but he's not the only one responsible for everything.