Dijon Women's Team Faces Abandonment Despite On-Pitch Success
Dijon's women's football team, despite consistently punching above their weight in the French top flight, is fighting for survival amid what players describe as abandonment by the club's management. The team, currently fifth in the league, faces the potential loss of its professional status due to a deepening financial crisis that has hit the women's side hardest.
Players Voice Frustration Over Management
On 9 April, the players issued a powerful statement expressing they felt "unwanted from day one" and denounced the club's neglect of the women's section. This came just days after Dijon announced plans to scale back ambitions for the women's team, even considering jettisoning the professional squad next season due to a lack of resources. The club cited the absence of a buyer as a key factor, casting doubt on the future of both the team and the women's academy established in 2024.
The players have criticised what they call "confused and careless" management, highlighting that the team has competed in the top division for eight consecutive years and achieved a historic fourth-place finish last season, reaching the league title playoffs against Lyon. This season, their on-pitch performance continues to thrive, contrasting sharply with off-pitch turmoil.
Leadership Under Fire
Club president Pierre-Henri Deballon, a Dijon-based entrepreneur and co-founder of digital ticketing firm Weezevent, has become a particular target for criticism. Players accuse him of "absent leadership" and "indifference," claiming his actions are causing the women's section to disappear. They argue that the board failed to sell the team by "demanding thousands, even millions" for a section deemed unprofitable, and insist that "the decent thing would have been to pass it on to save what matters."
Deballon, who took over in July 2024, acknowledges he can no longer meet the financial demands of both professional teams and is focusing on the men's side, which plays in France's non-professional third division, on the grounds that men's football generates more revenue. "We cannot invest the same energy in men's and women's football. That's unrealistic," he told Ecofoot in October. A club source noted, "He's a businessman: if it doesn't make money, it goes," adding surprise that he funded the women's section for two years.
Financial Struggles and Missed Opportunities
Dijon is running a deficit of around €5 million (£4.4 million) for the 2025-26 season. The board claims the women's section alone accounts for €1.5 million in losses, though players and the financial officer of the women's side dispute this, estimating it closer to €600,000. Financial woes were exacerbated when the club was denied an annual €200,000 subsidy from the French Football Federation because Guillaume Serra, appointed head of the new academy, lacked required qualifications.
Further financial mismanagement is evident in transfer dealings. An offer of at least €100,000 for Poland international Nadia Krezyman in January was reportedly turned down by then-sporting director Sylvain Carric, despite Krezyman having only six months left on her contract. The president allegedly only learned of the offer later, and the transfer fee could have helped balance accounts before the DNCG, the body overseeing French clubs' financial sustainability. Krezyman will now leave on a free transfer to join a Women's Super League club, with similar scenarios expected for most of the squad.
Solidarity and Support
Despite the challenges, the squad has united in an attempt to save the section, inspired by the disappearances of other French women's clubs like Bordeaux and Soyaux. Players learned of the "end of the women's team" through a club website statement, with news passed via Switzerland international Meriame Terchoun, whom the president had been updating on investor talks. For the players, this was "a final insult."
In their statement, they concluded: "To lead is to take responsibility, not to abandon. We play for this club. It should fight for us. We deserve respect ... today you decide, we suffer." However, they have found support from the men's team, who wore T-shirts saying "support for the women's section" before a game against Sochaux last Friday, in a coordinated action omitted from the club's media coverage.
Future Uncertainties
Currently, the club is in talks with an undisclosed investor after negotiations with American firm Sphera Partners collapsed due to funding issues. The board is now reportedly willing to let the women's section go for nothing. As the season nears its end, Dijon's women's team continues to fight on the pitch, but their future remains precarious, emblematic of broader struggles in women's football.
