When the succession of Rudi Garcia was launched at the Olympique Lyonnais, the name of Juninho came back several times among the possible avenues.
And according to our information, his friend Cris, recently graduated from the Professional Football Coach Certificate necessary to coach in L1 and appointed to Le Mans (National), came to meet him shortly before in Décines for a two-hour private exchange.
Was there a question of a two-way ticket to take the reins at OL, the former defender covering his former teammate with his diploma?
No one will know but in any case, as he had announced on the OLTV channel in November 2019 shortly after his appointment as sporting director, Juninho had in the back of his mind the idea of one day coaching. And he had justified his desire to instead turn to a manager’s diploma awarded by UEFA at first “because it was less restrictive, with two or three months of travel over two years”.
The BEF allows you to train up to the highest regional level
Now he is now well launched in training to obtain coaching diplomas. As revealed by RMC at the end of May, he had been spotted among the candidates for the next session of the football coach certificate (BEF), which allows coaching until Regional 1.
To go higher, you then need the DES (until N2), then the BEPF (Ligue 1).
The AURA league has just revealed the names of the 51-year-old candidates admitted to the next session and we find there in particular Rémy Vercoutre, tipped to be the next coach of OL’s goalkeepers, but also a certain Antonio Reis. As a reminder, Juninho’s full civil name is Antônio Augusto Ribeiro Reis Júnior.
Does he ripen the project to get closer to the field in the longer term? The hypothesis is in any case thickened after this admission, which will see him mobilized seven to eight weeks over the whole of next season. Not necessarily easy to cram with an overloaded sports director’s agenda.
