He had already experienced similar success in 2010 with PSG.
Twelve years later, Antoine Kombouaré lifted his second Coupe de France, after the victory against Nice
(1-0).
But this trophy certainly has a much greater emotional value in the eyes of the 58-year-old Kanak.
When he arrived at the bedside of FC Nantes on February 11, 2021, after the Raymond Domenech flop, his training club was relegated and plagued by conflicts between supporters and President Waldemar Kita.
Kombouaré remained, he, on a very difficult experience in Toulouse, which had darkened his rating.
In the middle, he was mainly cataloged as a leader of men and a service firefighter.
Deep down, the former trainer at PSG is nevertheless a builder.
He has shown this since his arrival in Nantes, which he saved from relegation in the play-offs against Toulouse in the spring of 2021. Without recovering new players, he built a united group, guiding the emergence of a Blas or d 'a Kolo Muani to whom he restored confidence.
Nantes' top scorer, who will leave for Eintracht Frankfurt next season, has also declared that he considers his coach as "his father".
These words moved Kombouaré to tears.
“We do this work with the idea of being in the human, confides the latter.
Of course we are talking about commitment, duels, winning, but above all it is about relationships.
This is what I have always woven with my players, these are father-son relationships.
»
He gave back his pride to the yellow house
If he passes for a bogeyman and has often been caricatured as a soldier, Kombouaré is first and foremost a man of values, upright.
"I'm not a cop.
It's so easy to reduce myself to this image.
There is also a lot of psychology in my work”, explained the one who works “old fashioned” by putting the athlete above everything else.
No question of touching his prerogatives in the field and his backyard... He managed the "feat" of removing Waldemar Kita, a willing interventionist in the past.
With its president, it shares little.
How it works confused Kita a bit at first.
But these two strong characters have finally found a balance in their relationship.
Kombouaré will not necessarily be long term with Nantes.
But if he leaves, it will be with his head held high and restoring his pride to the yellow house.
“I have immense respect for people like Guy Roux or Arsène Wenger who lasted so long.
I love what I do, I love my job, he says.
Establishing strategies to beat the opponent is exciting.
But it is also a profession that can be exhausting.
When it is necessary to say stop, I will know how to do…”
