Alessandro Orefice, the Italian coach of Mariannes 92, remembers it. “The first time I came to watch a match in the public before joining the club, I sat in the stands. I counted the number of spectators present. There were thirty of them. »
Remember that with the Mariannes, based in Levallois, we are talking here about a club born from the merger between Stade Français, Saint-Cloud and Levallois-Perret which hit the courts in 2022.
Three years have passed. Alessandro Orefice sat on the bench. The stands were not very full. With him, the Mariannes 92 won two French championship titles in 2024 and 2025. And French women’s volleyball emerged from its anonymity: the French team reached the quarter-finals of the last World Cup this summer.
This Thursday evening (8 p.m., Palais des Sports Marcel-Cerdan in Levallois), the daughters of the transalpine coach are playing the second day of the Champions League against the Poles of Rzeszow, one of the best clubs on the continent.
2000 people expected
And this time, they will perform in front of more than 2000 people. “Last year, we played it losing 6 games out of 6. This time, our ambition is to do better, that is to say to win matches to be transferred to CEV, the second European cup at the end of the first round. We know very well that we will not win the Champions League,” smiles the coach who coached Slovenia, during the World Cup, until the round of 16.
Gone are the days when, with Cannes, France could shine with its clubs on the international scene. “Europe is dominated by Polish, Italian and Turkish teams,” explains Mariannes president Philippe Peters. It’s a question of financial means. We have tripled our budget in a few years to bring it to €2M. However, it remains 10 times lower than the teams from these countries. It’s impossible to compete. »
The economy of women’s volleyball remains fragile. An example? Double finalist of the French Championship against the Mariannes in 2024 and 2025, the Neptunes of Nantes have disappeared from the map, their shareholder having gone out of business.
The Levallois club is not there but it must constantly go to the net in a complicated context. “The current economic situation and uncertainty, partners who are hesitant to commit without knowing the future, make things even more difficult. Since the World Cup this summer, we have felt a little stirring, a positive level of sympathy for women’s volleyball. But this is still very timid,” notes Philippe Peters.
The Mariannes are also struggling in the anonymity of the Paris region. “There are so many things to do here apart from going to see a women’s volleyball match,” remarks Alessandro Orefice. “When you go to the provinces, on Saturdays, sometimes there is only a volleyball match to liven up the evening, the same in certain cities in Europe. Here obviously, it’s different,” continues the president.
