Last Saturday, during the derby against Plessis-Robinson, his son of a few months in his arms, he seemed to be withdrawing from the event. Present but already elsewhere. The explanation fell on Wednesday. At 44 years old, the one who had been managing director of Paris Volley since 2019 has decided to hand over. To embark on a new adventure. The idea had been tickling Arnaud Gandais for some time now, but he made his decision in the middle of the summer. “There are cycles in life, I felt like I had come to the end of that one,” he says. It is not the first time that he has chosen to change the universe. After 15 years in the world of handball, where he notably wore the costumes of coach and then manager of the women's club of Paris92,he had left the world of the little ball that sticks for that of volleyball. This time his stint only lasted a little over two years. But he left the club with the feeling of having accomplished his duty.
"If the Paris club still exists, it is above all thanks to the shareholders who put their hand in the portfolio to save it (
Editor's note: in 2018, including the former international Stéphane Antiga
), he said. I arrived at the start of a project to clean up, initiate, structure. We worked a lot and today the club is healthy. The proof is that we have not been summoned by the DNACG (
financial policeman in volleyball
) for two years. We have doubled our licensees, we went from 2 to 50 partners, we have played three sold-out games since the start of the season because we are offering a show. "
Above all, he was at the origin of an important turn for the club.
"I was at the origin of a singular positioning, which goes beyond the framework of sport, to tend towards societal and environmental subjects which the clubs must seize, he confides.
It took a lot of energy from me, but I'm proud of it.
We have proven that we can be exemplary, virtuous and earn money.
"
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Father of four children, Arnaud Gandais has long been concerned with the environmental and ecological cause. Since his arrival at Paris Volleyball, he has thus launched and implemented a new “green” policy, by attempting to reduce the team's carbon footprint and encouraging players to use “green energies” for their homes or their homes. transport. Last February, he had already moved to a higher level by creating his association "Match for Green" whose goal is to teach sports clubs eco-responsibility rules.
"Builder", having "need of challenges" and loathing "to twiddle his thumbs", the interested party could continue to invest in this theme.
"We will know more in the next two weeks," he smiles.
But I am convinced that the ecological commitment will take a boost soon either out of sincerity, which I hope, or out of opportunism.
The clubs must be players in the economy, employment and the preservation of the environment in their territories.
"
The club has already found his successor in the person of Fousseyni Sakanoko.
Former director of a real estate administration company and shareholder of Paris Volley since the start of the school year, he is therefore a specialist in business management.
The new GM has so far taken care of the club's training center and is the daddy of the international junior
Louis Sakanoko, elected Parisian talent in 2019.
