After the word, place for actions and concrete. Launched in December 2022 by Ronaldinho, the 2005 Ballon d’Or winner, and Yacine Brahimi, the former Algerian international, the FootSider application, a kind of football LinkedIn, is organizing a major screening on February 24 in Paris in order to create recruitment opportunities for young footballers, born between 2002 and 2008, with a lack of visibility.
These adolescents and young adults, not retained or not chosen by the training centers, are thus offered a second chance. Many clubs, including Lorient, Montpellier, Lens Saint-Étienne, Toulouse or even abroad RB Salzburg, have already confirmed their presence at this operation scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in a place in the capital which will be the subject of very soon of a communication. Beforehand, each interested player will have had to download the application, create his profile and then register for detection. At this stage a hundred participants are announced.
With more than 25,000 users and partnerships with pro and amateur clubs (Sochaux, Laval, Zaragoza, etc.), FootSider, which therefore aims to be the first platform for connecting players and clubs from all over the world, is already meeting a real craze less than two months after its launch.
Met last April, Brahimi passed by Rennes, after having started in Montreuil and Vincennes, specified on this subject: “This application comes after many years of work on the ground of the Second Chance Academy. Concretely, FootSider has digitized all their years of work. The social part of the project is very important in the sense that we really want to help young people have the chance to succeed in becoming professionals. The goal, too, is to collect as much data, information as possible between clubs, players and even sponsors, to create a huge football family where we can help each other. »
Echoing Ronaldinho, who decided to invest in the start-up and bring his notoriety to give real momentum to the application, added. “I really liked the opportunity to help young people achieve their dream. Football has given us a lot. Now it’s up to us to give to other young people who also dream of becoming football players. That’s what touched me the most. »