World stars such as Mbappé and Neymar are going to the north of France tonight to give the tiny Pays de Cassel a party. The lion flags will flutter exuberantly in the stadium of Lens. The story of a fairy tale in yellow and black.
Matches that are broadcast live in Flemish on Radio Uylenspiegel, lion flags in the stands, yellow-black as club colours, … It is perhaps the most Flemish club in the world. But they still play in France.
Meet Pays de Cassel, a club a stone’s throw from the border with West Flanders. Cassel is big news in France these days, because tonight the club from the 6th division will take on Neymar and Mbappé in the French Cup.
10th round in the Coupe de France
But how did it all come to this? Through an unlikely series of stunts, Cassel made it to the 10th (!) round of the Coupe de France, being the 1/16th finals.
Cassel successively eliminated clubs such as Drancy, Chaumont and Wasquehal. To then be linked to PSG in the draw.
Normally, Cassel plays his home games in the Municipal Sports Stadium, but that is of course much too small to receive the stars from the capital. That is why it will soon move to the stadium of nearby Lens.
The Flemish Cassel
For centuries, Cassel (or Kassel in Dutch) was one of the most important places of the County of Flanders. It was not until the 17th century that it finally fell into French hands under Louis XIV and the region was renamed French Flanders.
Dutch (or a kind of Flemish dialect) remained the language of communication for a long time afterwards and even now many things around Cassel remind us of that Flemish past: there is a “Musée de Flandre”, which is located in the Landhuys. De Casteelmeulen is the main vantage point on the Kasselberg, which has long been one of the key points of Gent-Wevelgem.
The people of Cassel are still proud of that Flemish past (the present in their minds). Hence the flags, the colors and the Flemish-language radio broadcasts (Uylenspiegel is not coincidentally a Flemish freedom fighter in many stories).
If we go over the list of players, we also see a lot of names that feel very Dutch: Bruno Demeulenaere, Lucas Thoor, Julien Denaes, Nicolas Bruneel, … Many of those players also have a past at Belgian clubs in the area: Mouscron, Menen, Ronse or Tournai.
Amateurs vs. world stars
The technical heart of Pays de Cassel also sounds “Flemish”: the technical director goes by the name Gabriel Bogaert, the trainer is called Samuel Goethals.
A trainer called Goethals will of course ring a bell, especially in France. But Samuel may have Flemish roots, he is not related to Raymond, who won the European Cup I with Marseille.
Goethals started coaching at the age of 29, with the reserves of the illustrious Marcq-en-Baroeul. In 2019 he was able to take a step higher at Ronse and last summer Cassel plucked him from the U18 of Union.
Nobody at PSG can point Cassel on a map.
Goethals combines his job as a coach with a part-time job at the town hall of Herlies. Almost all players at Cassel still work outside football.
Kevin Rudent is a superintendent at a school in Saint-Omer, Clément Boudjema has a commercial position and is studying German to push his boundaries and captain Alexis Zmijak has a construction company.
Zmijak already provided the quote when the draw became known. “PSG against Cassel? I’m sure none of them can point Cassel on a map.”
Zmijak is nevertheless a very strong supporter of PSG. “I don’t know if I dare to take down Mbappé just like that when he rushes towards goal.”
PSG coach Galtier will in any case start the match with the necessary respect. “The best team will play. It is important at this stage of the competition that we can strengthen the automatisms between the players again.”
