French Basketball Cup: “If we win a title this year, yay!”, exclaims the president of SIG Strasbourg

It has been five years since basketball players from Strasbourg won a trophy. They had won Leaders Cup in 2019. And it was not a foregone conclusion at the start of the season to see SIG in the finals of a national competition, as it had such an up and down season.

His European journey stopped at the gates of the Top 8 of the Champions League. And the chances of qualifying for the playoffs are slim. The Strasbourg side, 11th in Betclic Elite, no longer have their fate in their hands, three days after the end.

SO, this final of the Coupe de France, won hard (in Trélazé, SIG eliminated Nancy in the quarter-finals and the Monegasque troll in the semi-finals), can constitute a ray of sunshine if the victory is at the end.

A trophy to light up the season?

“Finally, the word is beautiful, the word is great, excites the winger Paul Lacombealready winner of the Coupe de France with SIG in 2015 and ASVEL in 2021. That Getting to the final is never easy, never a given. It is a great reward if the title is at the end, especially given the rather complicated season. For the club and even personally it is a great opportunity to have a title. That would be beautiful and big for everyone.

If Strasbourg continue to underperform against Le Mans at home this Wednesday, they promise, they will increase the level of intensity and concentration for this final. SIG Captain Léo Cavalièrewho will celebrate his 28th birthday this Saturday at Bercy, wants to lift this Coupe de France at all costs: “I haven’t had the opportunity to lift a trophy yet. 10 years since I played my first professional match, I still haven’t had a title. I would like to seize this big opportunity, one point from a personal point of view, but also for SIG I would like to make some kind of club history, all things considered, to have a banner in Rhénus and to be able to come back one day and say that it is partly me, that would be a great pride. Such a title can light up the season our.”

50 – 50 against JDA?

The opponent in the final, experienced JDA Dijon a season quite similar to that of SIG. The Dijonnaise who regularly subscribe to the playoffs are only number 13 in Betclic Elite, three days after the end. Laurent Legname’s side have beaten Strasbourg twice this season in the league, but the JDA coach expects a balanced duel.

“Honestly, it’s 50-50assene Laurent Legname. Both teams have a similar season in the league, with a lot of irregularities. In a match like that, over 40 minutes, there is no turning back, it is a life and death match. So it’s really 50 – 50, in a neutral space, a special context.”

Paul Lacombe he also believes that the two lost games against Dijon this season are of little importance. “It’s like a blank page, it’s a different competition, almost a bracket in a season, explains the Strasbourg wing. They are not even the same balloons. We play on a neutral pitch, everything is different. And then when we lose, we sometimes have the impression that the opposing team is unbeatable. There, even though we lost twice by a good margin against Dijon, it wasn’t the feeling we had, so we tell ourselves that there is room to do something.

A first step in the reconstruction process

The SIG season was eventful, both on the floor and behind the scenes, with a change in governance. Martial Bellon took over the presidency of the club in October 2023, after thirteen years at the head of SIG. The end of his mandate was more complicated, with poorer sporting results, a financial deficit, and the Arena project not being realised.

His successor Christophe Lasvigne hopes in the coming years to bring the club back up the French hierarchy, and a victory in the Coupe de France (already won by SIG in 2015 and 2018) would be a first step in this direction.

“A victory in the Coupe de France was not in the plans, specifies the new commander of the SIG. But that would be a cherry on the cake. When I became president, I wanted to win titles, and if we win one this year, yay! I was elected with a precise roadmap from the shareholders. The club had a large deficit last year, and the first thing that had to be done was to balance the accounts and remove control from DNCCG (Editor’s note: the financial policeman in French basketball). In recent years, the club has been on a downward spiral. I hope that from next year he will have new ambitions, and will be able to look upwards, towards the Top 4. The arrival of Matt Pokora is good news. He works with us every day, we are preparing everything that will happen next year.”

The final of the French Basketball Cup between SIG and JDA Dijon can be seen in its entirety on Saturday 27 April at France Bleu Alsace (on air at 16:00, kick-off at 16:30).