In footballing language, we could speak of an own goal.
During a previous hearing, as part of a conflict between him and his ex-partner, who demands that he recognize the paternity of his daughter, Marcel Desailly requested a DNA test from the courts.
This is exactly what justice ordered, in a judgment rendered Tuesday March 12, which we were able to consult.
From now on, the former captain of the France team has six months to go to a laboratory in Nantes, so that his DNA can be compared to that of little Victoria, 9 years old.
A decision that also satisfies the child's mother, Cosma Batista de Alcantara.
Marcel Desailly, 55, had no choice but to request such a test.
Refusing it would have automatically resulted in recognition of paternity, as had already been the case for him with a first daughter born out of wedlock.
Nine years of living together attested by dozens of documents
This time, it was Cosma Batista de Alcantara who initially took legal action.
Born in Brazil, Cosma met the ex-footballer at the end of 2009. The two remained a couple until 2018, while Marcel Desailly was still officially married to Virginie, the mother of his four "legitimate" children, with whom the divorce will not be officially finalized until 2021.
At the beginning of 2010, Cosma and Marcel moved into a Parisian apartment together.
Victoria was born in 2014. In 2016, the couple moved to Boulogne-Billancourt.
According to the mother, Marcel Desailly then gradually lost interest in the child, whose paternity he only assumed financially on an irregular basis.
Very close to the child during his very first years, the former captain of the France team would have gradually moved away from him.
He has not seen her since 2021. DR
After trying the amicable route, the mother, who now lives in Spain, chose the legal route.
In support of her requests for recognition of paternity and alimony, she provided dozens of documents, notably attesting to the proximity of the footballer to the child.
At stake, heavy alimony
In conclusions that we were able to consult, Me Françoise Majnoni d'Intignano, the footballer's lawyer, considered on the contrary that he only had friendly behavior with a child who was not his, but that of His wife.
He would thus have “simply acted as any person would do when meeting a friend with their child.
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Read also Recognition of paternity: the difficult defense of Marcel Desailly
However, in a video that we were able to obtain, Marcel Desailly appears with Victoria in his arms.
“I’m with dad!”
Cuckoo !
», Launches the footballer, all smiles in these images dated before 2021, Marcel Desailly having not seen Victoria since that date.
In the meantime, the former defender has settled in Ghana.
If the DNA test were to recognize his paternity, the question of the amount of alimony would then arise.
In the latest communications with his ex-partner, who is demanding 5,000 euros per month from him, Marcel Desailly suggested that he was insolvent.
“But where will it be taken?,” he lamented.
You don't even know my income.
I don’t even have that left…”
In the event of conviction, or even non-payment, the former international footballer, notably with Milan and Chelsea, could be the subject of financial investigations.
In 2014, he had already been the subject of a tax investigation, suspected of hiding funds in Switzerland.
When contacted, neither Me Majnoni D'Intignano nor Me Françoise Rozelaar-Vigier, Cosma's lawyer, responded.