Accidents or illness may have taken away a leg or a hand, but not the desire and pleasure of playing football at a high level: this weekend, the OM amputee team begins the French Championship, at home and dreaming of the Champions League.
In the midst of the mistral wind, the Marseille players are practicing their skills on the pitches of the OM Campus. Set pieces, rondos, small-sided games and banter between teammates – the only thing that really reminds you that this session isn't quite like any other is the sound of crutches.
"With a few exceptions, it's really the same as football. And that's what my players want, to be considered able-bodied. So I completely disregard their disability," Karim Belounis, the coach of this team launched in January by OM, the only Ligue 1 club along with Paris FC to have a section for amputees, explained to AFP.
"This team is part of our identity, of what we want to build with Treizième Homme (OM's social and societal program, editor's note) and all the components of the club," OM president Pablo Longoria told AFP.
"Like the professional women's and men's sections, like the youth teams, these players are fully part of the club. They wear our colors with pride and dignity and are loyal representatives of it," he adds.
Among those who will represent OM on Saturday and Sunday for the opening of the championship, which is played seven against seven, one was wounded by gunfire in a military operation in Mali, another had a motorized tractor accident, two were hit by cars, the starting goalkeeper was born without a right hand and yet another chose amputation himself after years of suffering in a knee.
– “A therapy” –
Before these life accidents, most had played football at a good or even high level, like captain Jérôme Raffetto, who played in L2 with Cannes.
“My idols were Papin, Waddle and Pelé. I was an OM supporter and I had in the back of my mind to play there one day. So to be in this club today is really a source of pride,” says the man who lost his left leg at 25, struck by a car in a pharmacy parking lot.
On crutches, and at 45 years old, Raffetto is slower than in his best years as a player. But during the end-of-session scrimmage, the U15 players of "Minots de Marseille," a partner club of OM, realize that his ball control, his skill, and his feints remain intact.
"All the technical aspects with the crutches, the running, the movements, the way to position them to hit, we had to learn and train a lot. But having played at a certain level simplifies things," he explains.
Having come through the Nîmes training centre, Romain Abellan also quickly adapted to playing football on crutches after his amputation in 2021. "It was not conceivable for me to leave football," he assures.
"I call it therapy. It allowed me to keep my head up and stay strong. If I hadn't known this sport, I might not have coped with disability and amputation so well," adds the man from Béziers.
– Represent the coat of arms –
But for others, like striker Ali Katasse, the road has been tortuous. "After my amputation, you couldn't talk to me about football. It was too recent, I had to grieve," he explains.
And even once he got going, nothing was easy. "Honestly, I struggled," he smiled. "It's like learning to walk again. Tactically and in terms of football, you have reference points. But with crutches, it's something else entirely."
Today, however, the progress is evident. "We work extremely hard, with increasingly regular training frequencies. The players really feel like professionals, at our humble level," assures Karim Belounis.
And for Romain Abellan, the objective is clear: "to finish first in the championship and go to the Champions League to properly represent the badge".
This badge that they look at with pride and sometimes a little disbelief when introducing themselves: "I am Ali Katasse, I am 37 years old, and I am the centre-forward for Olympique de Marseille."
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