In modern football, we often tend to summarize the success of a club by its budget or the name of its coach. It’s a little hasty to forget the kingpin, the man who, in the shadows, knits together the squad, manages egos and keeps the shop running when the wind rises. In France, while TV rights have forced everyone to tighten their belts, some sports directors are doing well with disconcerting mastery. They don’t have the budget of their rivals, but they have flair, network and vision. Capable of finding the rare pearl in National, relaunching an “undesirable” or structuring a club in the long term, these four forty-year-olds, former professional players, are undoubtedly the most underrated assets in France. From Brest to Sunderland, via Le Havre and Marseille, here are the portraits of these “System D” magicians.
Grégory Lorenzi (Brest, 42 years old, sports director since summer 2016)
He is undoubtedly the boss of the genre. In office since 2016, Grégory Lorenzi is the man who built everything at Stade Brestois, from the training grounds (non-existent when he arrived) to the historic qualification for the Champions League. Elected best sports director since 2015 according to TransferRoom data (which evaluates sports directors based on their means, the reputation of the club, but also on their ability to achieve strong capital gains), he excels in the art of added value, like Romain Faivre bought for €400,000 in Monaco and resold to OL 18 months later for €15 million, or even Ibrahima Diallo bought for €2 million in Monaco and resold 15 months later in Southampton for €12 million, without forgetting Lilian Brassier, bought for €1.75 million in Rennes in 2021 and resold… in Rennes for €12 million 4 years later. A total success hailed by agent Pierre Frelot: “It’s a very rare profile, of a former player who has the ability to manage, anticipate and make the right choices before others. In French football, there are no sports directors of this size elsewhere. » For his part, Lorenzi measures the progress traveled with lucidity: “When I took up my role, we had no training ground, no training center, no team, because we had nine players… We built grounds, a training center, we have been in Ligue 1 for five years.” Longevity and success which command respect, because succeeding in making capital gains is good, but managing to combine this success with great sporting results such as the epic Champions League success of the Finistère club, it is a great challenge taken up with flying colors by the strong man of Stade Brestois. Polyglot and already well respected in Europe, he was even approached by Nice 2 years ago and two Italian clubs were interested in his profile last summer. And with the very hectic end of the season ahead in Brest, there is no doubt that Lorenzi’s daily life will be just as hectic. After 10 years of very good and loyal service in Brittany, the time seems to have arrived to attempt a new project, even though information has recently been received from clubs in England, Italy, and Saudi Arabia.
Medhi Benatia (OM, 38 years old, advisor then director of football since winter 2025)
Appointed director of football at OM in January 2025 after an already well-established work base as an advisor, Medhi Benatia is undoubtedly one of the most captivating and daring profiles on the French and European market today. A former international defender with a prestigious career (Bayern Munich, Juventus, AS Roma), he was able to make his return to his training club a real managerial success story, at the heart of the Marseille revival alongside Pablo Longoria. Upon his arrival in the Olympian organization chart, the 38-year-old Moroccan piloted a recruitment policy that was both ambitious and adapted to economic constraints, attracting strong names like Facundo Medina, Nayef Aguerd or Benjamin Pavard, while consolidating the backbone of the team without losing Mason Greenwood. Thanks to his vision, OM regained a place on the European scene in the Champions League after several delicate seasons, marking a spectacular sporting turning point for the Marseille club. Combining footballing intuition, an international network in Italy and Germany in particular, and a sense of opportunity, his role was crucial in convincing experienced players to join the Marseille project, emphasizing the prestige of OM and the tactical role they could play there. His work is not limited to the big moves already made, he has also laid the foundations for intelligent prospective recruitment, exploring ambitious prospects and world-class circles. Kevin De Bruyne was considered before flying to Naples. Beyond his transfer window choices, Benatia stands out for his founding leadership and his ability to instill a winning mentality in the players, as he himself summed up during the transfer window: “we lost Adrien Rabiot, but we strengthened everywhere”highlighting the collective solidity found despite difficult starts. More recently, after a heavy defeat in the Champions Trophy, he tempered the uncertainty surrounding his future by calling for patience and continuity, a gesture welcomed by his coach Roberto De Zerbi who affirmed on January 12, 2026 that “the day Benatia leaves, me too”illustrating the impact and influence of the manager at the heart of the project.
Florent Ghisolfi (Sunderland, 40 years old, director of football since summer 2025)
At just 40 years old, Florent Ghisolfi has become one of the most talented and promising sports directors in French football, with a career already rich in influence, daring and convincing results. After a career as a professional player fueled by a passion for the game and tactical detail, he converted with remarkable success into sports management, first at RC Lens where he was one of the main architects of the club’s rise to power. Under his leadership, Lens experienced flourishing seasons, notably thanks to visionary recruitments like Jonathan Clauss or Cheick Doucouré (later sold at a high price) who illustrated his ability to detect and develop talent with an excellent performance/value ratio. His reputation was then consolidated in Nice, then in Serie A at AS Roma, where the French manager demonstrated extraordinary adaptability and tactical understanding to structure the entire sporting project of an ambitious club. In July 2025, Sunderland, freshly promoted to the Premier League, did not hesitate to formalize his appointment to the strategic position of director of football, welcoming his European profile and his ability to structure a long-term project. From his first weeks, his mark is felt with targeted signings such as Habib Diarra or the track of Noah Sadiki, reflecting his subtle mix of European scouting, strong relational network and strategy over several transfer windows. His time at Lens remains an example of this winning philosophy. Under his leadership, the club has established itself as a solid player in Ligue 1 and on the European scene, while generating significant financial gains. At the heart of Sunderland, Ghisolfi is already seen as the man capable of making the club a strong contender in the Premier League, with a strategy that goes well beyond the short term. His appointment abroad illustrates a growing recognition of his talent, placing this French-trained leader among the most followed European profiles of his generation.
Mathieu Bodmer (Le Havre, 43 years old, sports director since summer 2022)
Since his arrival in Normandy in the summer of 2022 where the club was vegetating in Ligue 2, Mathieu Bodmer has transformed Le Havre. His method? A titanic volume of work – he watches 50 matches per week – and an extraordinary capacity for financial adaptation. In a context where the HAC often flirts with the red zone, the former midfielder of PSG, OL and LOSC in particular, always manages to get the club out of the rut thanks to intelligent loans and daring, but profitable, bets. Bodmer became the master of economic rationalization without sacrificing competitiveness. He explains it with rare transparency: “compared to the season when we moved up to Ligue 1, we reduced our payroll by 50%. » With ever less money, a lurking DNCG, but a sharp sense and a formidable instinct when it is necessary to take a chance, the former consultant of the Telefoot channel and of RMC excels. A balancing act which today allows the oldest club to survive in the elite, proving that we can work miracles with ideas, even if we don’t have oil.
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