The Bordeaux Deaf Sports Association aims for a double

Already winners of the French Cup in deaf futsal, the Bordeaux club will play the final of the French Cup for deaf football against Paris on Saturday, June 14. This is its best season

Let 's start by setting the scene. Paris Saint-Germain is not the only French club to be European football champions. On May 31, the Club Sportif des Sourds de Reims, crowned French champions on May 3, won the Deaf Champions League at home, beating POK Athens in the final. As with the hearing community, with OM in 1993 and then PSG in 2025, Reims is the second French team to be at the top of Europe, after the Club Sportif des Sourds et Muets de Paris in 2023. It is this same Parisian team that the Association Sportive des Sourds de Bordeaux (ASSB) will face on Saturday, June 14 in Caen in the Coupe de France final .

Coached by Franck Chetrit, the Bordeaux team were playing in the second division of the 11-a-side classic football league this season, while the Parisians finished third in the first division. The men with the green lizard, their mascot, have already won this competition once, in 1988.

This Saturday, the ASSB will be looking to do a double take. On May 17, the association chaired by Thierry Grossoleil lifted its second French Futsal Cup, after the one won in 2016, along with the national title, by its women's team, which unfortunately no longer exists. The final phase took place in Poitiers. There were eight clubs competing . Coached by Rachid Fayk, Bordeaux, a member of the elite in this discipline , won 7-2 in the final against Mulhouse, who had won their first French championship title in February.

The ASSB doesn't just play football and futsal. It's a multi-sport organization that also offers padel, tennis, pétanque, and sport-boules. There are 83 competitors in total, including 16 in futsal and 23 in football, with about ten doing both. Deaf and hard-of-hearing people play on the same teams. Hearing loss must be at least 55 decibels in the better ear across three specific frequencies. Hearing aids are prohibited. Visual communication is obviously essential. Referees wave a bib to signal offside. Otherwise, the rules are the same as for hearing people.

The Bordeaux sports association was founded in 1914, and its football section, now headed by Bertrand Wisniewski, in 1959. "Originally, meetings were held on the first floor of a bar in the Capucins district," says Thierry Grossoleil. The ASSB has never had a clubhouse. It would be his dearest wish. For post-match events, it's essential. Championship days bring together four teams on the same site. The Bordeaux club has no venue to host them. To help out, a medical-social establishment for deaf children with associated disabilities, the Cesda Richard Chapon , on rue de Marseille, rents him a meeting room on Wednesdays, plus a space for small receptions.

"It's not easy financially," emphasizes the ASSB president, who has doubts about the club's sustainability. "Annual expenses for our six sports amount to €60,000." For the 2024-2025 season, the Gironde Department has awarded it a subsidy of €6,080. The city's subsidy was €3,000 in 2023 and €3,760 in 2024. A one-off grant of €1,000 will be submitted to the next city council for its participation in the Coupe de France final.

The most expensive part is the travel. Next season, in the D1 of deaf football, Bordeaux will have to travel to Paris, Toulouse, Vitry, and Reims. Not next door. Bordeaux will replace Marseille in the top flight, who have asked to move down a level for financial reasons. At the continental level, the problem is the same. Of the 16 clubs qualified for the Deaf Champions League, seven had to decline the invitation.

There has, however, been progress this season. Bordeaux City Hall is lending them a futsal hall. The ASSB trains on Mondays, from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., at the Thiers gymnasium. "This helps us progress," notes the president. Official matches, which require stands, take place in Eysines, Parempuyre, or Mérignac. For football, training is on Thursdays at the Bel Air stadium, plus, since May, at the Colette-Besson sports field one evening a week. A double in the cups would be historic. A treble even, since the club is the 2025 French champion in sport-boules.