In his everyday life, Julien Mahé now displays the green and white logo of Nanterre 92 on his costume. After five years at Saint-Quentin, which has become a stronghold of French basketball, he has been the coach of the Donnadieu family club since the start of the school year. And it works rather (very) well since the 2013 French champion currently finds himself co-leader of Betclic Élite.
But the 42-year-old Breton has also worn a completely different tunic since November 1, that of the “Belgian Lions”. The brand new coach of Belgium is preparing to face the French team this Friday (8:30 p.m.) in Rouen (Seine-Maritime) for the qualifiers for the 2027 World Cup. “The federation was looking for a coach after the Euro (finished in 18th place) to start again on a new project and called me to ask if I was interested,” he says. If it hadn’t been Belgium, I wouldn’t have followed through.”
It must be said that Julien Mahé feels a particular attachment to this country. While he lived near the border for a long time, in Dunkirk when he managed Gravelines (2013-2019), he “coached Belgian players for quite a few years”, while spending time watching matches on the kingdom’s basketball courts.
“I want to get rich”
Now it remains to succeed in this other function. “The job of club coach is not the same as that of coach, I suspected that, but we can only measure it by being confronted with it” recalls his colleague with the Blues, Freddy Fauthoux, also a club coach, in Bourg-en-Bresse. “I have obviously never coached a selection before this one, but I want to discover another facet of my profession, meet new people, other working methods, enrich myself,” explains Julien Mahé. It’s certain that this week, for example, I could have had two days off with Nanterre, but the challenge is so exciting and fascinating! »
Since his appointment, between two matches and training sessions with Nanterre, the adopted Belgian, who sought advice from Vincent Collet, the former boss of the Blues, has only had three weeks to put together a team with players he is discovering.
“The big difficulty was building a team”
Almost all of its selected players play in the country. Only Loïc Schwartz plays in Betclic Élite, in Saint-Quentin, which Julien Mahé managed last season. “The big difficulty was building a team while facing numerous, fairly unpredictable losses,” confesses the coach. The selection changed almost every day until the last moment. We left for Rouen on Monday morning, and we had to change and call players at the last minute to line up a sufficient group. »
Like France, Belgium is aiming to qualify for the 2027 World Cup. The “Belgian Lions” have never managed to participate. This is the roadmap that Julien Mahé must complete, and it does not look easy. “After France against whom we have little to lose, we will play a very important match on Monday in Mons against Hungary,” specifies the coach, who will meet acquaintances this Friday.
“I don’t know why we can’t export more”
Two of his players at Nanterre actually wear the blue jersey: Mathis Dossou-Yovo and Benjamin Sene. Still a member of the Blues staff, Pascal Donnadieu, with his title of sports director, is also his boss in the Hauts-de-Seine club. And let’s not forget one of the Blues’ physiotherapists, Nicolas Barth who is also that of… Nanterre. “I’ve had a lot of laughs in recent weeks with the staff, the players, the physiotherapist who isn’t the last either. It makes me happy to see them again,” smiles Julien Mahé.
On the bench opposite, the latter will meet a playmate, Freddy Fauthoux, a week before facing each other in the French Championship. “I am very happy and very proud that Julien is the coach of a foreign team,” admits the boss of the Blues. This proves all the work that French coaches put in. »
“I don’t know why we can’t export more,” concludes the Breton. I would be delighted if I could open a path and show that French coaches are competent, have talent. »
