Wchicken Strasbourg went bankrupt and were relegated to the amateur fifth tier of French football in 2011, they were a club in crisis. Strasbourg is currently fighting for the Champions League. Again, this is a club in crisis.
In the epicenter of Alsace, a fiercely proud region on the French-German border, there is a sinking feeling that the identity extracted from a football club that has galvanized the masses for so long as few in France has been lost is being lost. A string of alleged “deceptions and lies” has turned Strasbourg into an organization no longer recognized by a vocal contingent of its own people.
The leadership of Marc Keller, a former France international and Alsace player, was instrumental in the club's recovery in the 2010s. But instead of being revered, Keller is ridiculed – he is considered the instigator of the poisoning of Strasbourg. His sale to Chelsea BlueCo owners June 2023 destroyed all previous goodwill. For the fans, he gave the soul of the club.
This deterioration was not immediate. Keller did reach out to fans when he decided to sell the company. “We said there are only two things we don't want,” explained Alexandre, a spokesman for Strasbourg's four main support groups, who asked that his last name not be used. Independent. “Firstly, we don't want an LBO (leveraged buyout) like the Glazers did at Manchester United. Secondly, we don't want to own multiple clubs. We don't want to be part of a chain of clubs. He said okay, listened to our opinion and then obviously did what he did and was sold to BlueCo.”
After the takeover, the ultras fell at their feet with the false promises they wanted to believe for the sake of their club. Keller, while remaining at the helm of the club as president, apparently assured that “Chelsea and Strasbourg will be separate entities, the only common feature being the same major shareholder.” It was also claimed that BlueCo, namely Clearlake founder Behdad Eghbali, was “very keen” to meet with the main supporters' unions.
But as the months passed, the reality of Strasbourg's new goal became clear. “We are being used as a pawn in the big game between Clearlake and Chelsea,” says Alexander, who is still waiting to meet Eghbali two and a half years later.
Since BlueCo took the reins, 11 players have swapped places between Chelsea – the crown jewel of their portfolio – and Strasbourg. Next summer that number will rise to 12 (at least). The formula assumes that mainly young people with high ceilings are brought to Mainau for development. before heading to Stamford Bridge. Alexander sees similarities between this and how NBA teams operate with their G League counterparts.
This injection of exquisite teenage talent has impacted both the average age of the starting XI (it is now the youngest in Europe's big five leagues at just 20.86) and its performance. Strasbourg have gone from perennial relegation candidate to European contender, playing in the Conference League this season under Liam Rosenior, the former Brighton, Hull and Fulham defender turned manager who is himself on an upward trajectory. So what's the problem?
First, no amount of success can justify the supposed erosion of identity, at least not in Strasbourg. “We have a culture where the region is very closely intertwined with the identity of the club, and that is not common in France,” explains Alexandre, noting that his mother, although “not caring about football,” considers Strasbourg part of her being. Therefore, to see the club become “a B team, a feeder team, a farm team” for Chelsea, as Alexander put it, is unacceptable.
The multi-club dynamic also saw BlueCo playing with Strasbourg on the transfer front. Cobham product joins Isha Samuels-Smith Race He joined Chelsea on a permanent deal this summer before returning to Stamford Bridge before being loaned out to Swansea City – all within 34 days. Ben ChilwellMeanwhile, he was sent to Mainau after the frozen left-back found no other suitors. He hardly fits the Strasbourg mold, but that doesn't matter – he needed a new club and this was the simplest solution. “This shows that in fact all decisions in Strasbourg are made by Chelsea,” Alexander complains.
This will also affect their costs: Strasbourg's direct links to Chelsea often limit their ability to become more competitive in the market. Under Premier League rules, any transfers between clubs in the same ownership group must first be assessed by the league to ensure they represent “fair market value”. And while Chelsea have followed this rule every time they have approached Strasbourg's talent pool, there is such a thing as raising prices – something Strasbourg cannot do when Chelsea have the first chance.
“The whole system is detrimental to Strasbourg's interests,” says Alexandre, who cites the £12 million sale of Mamadou Sarr in June as an event in which the French club's fans felt shortchanged by Chelsea. “He had a very decent season and attracted interest from a lot of clubs in England, Germany and Italy. In the ancient world we would have had a choice of which club we were going to sell and there would have been some competition. But we are in a vicious circle, so we have no choice – we have to sell (Chelsea).”
However, the biggest sin was committed after the summer transfer deadline. The 12th deal between the two clubs concerns 22-year-old striker Emanuel Emega, the Strasbourg captain who has scored 22 Ligue 1 goals over the last two campaigns. Just 11 days after the window slammed shut, It has been announced that Chelsea will sign Emega next summer. The Dutchman was immediately “showed around Cobham” in a Chelsea T-shirt, and Strasbourg fans perceived this decision as the greatest disrespect.
“I think every English fan would have the same reaction as us if they saw their captain in another club's shirt three games into the season,” says Alexander. “It just doesn't work. It was unbearable for us.”
The debacle brought fan fury to a tipping point. Fan protests have long been an integral part of matchday in Mainau, with fans in the main stand remaining silent for the first 15 minutes of every home game in protest against BlueCo – this has been the case since they took over and will continue indefinitely. However, the Emega incident only fueled the fire. On September 14, banners were unfurled against Le Havre calling for the Dutchman’s armband to be removed and Keller to resign.
In response, Strasbourg's senior leadership resisted. Rosenior resorted to criticism from fans as he defended his captain, who was “devastated” at being labeled a “BlueCo pawn”. Keller then imposed sanctions on fan organizations, requiring that the content of all future banners and information materials be approved in advance by the club. But even with these additional measures, anti-establishment banners have since been forcibly torn down by the Strasbourg security services, as happened during their last victorious action against Angers. “It's no longer a problem of owning multiple clubs; it’s no longer a problem to be used as a B team,” states Alexander. “This is a free speech issue.”
While BlueCo is the main enemy According to a significant part of the fans, the Strasbourg ultras are now trying to start a rebellion within their club. Their justification is the belief that under the current ownership of Strasbourg, which the board of directors defends, “Strasbourg faces a real risk of extinction in the next 10-15 years.” This is despite the fact that they managed to spend €110 million last summer in a league suffering from financial decline.
“Are we spending our money, the money we get from the club's income, or is it someone else's money? The answer is very clear: we are spending someone else's money,” says Alexander, laying out a warning about Strasbourg's newfound financial power. “We live with financial support, and if they take away this financial support, then in two months the club will go bankrupt.”
There may be a saving grace for ultras, even if it only lasts a moment. Their Champions League aspirations theoretically mean Strasbourg could receive a full-season deferment from BlueCo, assuming Chelsea also qualify for Europe's premier competition next season. This is because according to UEFA rules for owning multiple clubsStrasbourg is expected to move to a “blind trust”, eliminating any conflicts such as board members serving at two clubs. This will also prohibit Chelsea and Strasbourg from making any transfers between themselves. “At least we would bring back the idea that existed in 2023, about some kind of peace between two identities,” Alexander fantasizes.
However, a civil war is currently brewing in Mainau, with the natives of Alsace wanting their football club to be located on the German side of the Rhine. There, ownership rule 50+1which prohibits outside investors from becoming majority shareholders.
Instead, Strasbourg fans' unions found themselves at an impasse trying to find common ground with BlueCo. The final question asked of Alexander was whether he and supporting organizations were any closer to meeting Eghbali. Answer? “No.”
Independent contacted Strasbourg for comment.
