“I knew it was going to make noise”: Ngapeth discusses his return to France and his next departure before his arrival in Castelnau

With each of his outings, Earvin Ngapeth fills the halls and the French public with joy. MAXPPP – Mickaël J. PICHON

Montpellier hosts Poitiers and Earvin Ngapeth, the best French player in history, on Tuesday at 8pm, in Castelnau-le-Lez.

By signing with Poitiers the day after your Olympic title (your second), you practically single-handedly revived interest in the French championship. How are you experiencing this situation? ?

It's a great pleasure. I feel super lucky to be able to experience this every weekend and to receive so much love from the volleyball public. As you point out, it has created a buzz around the French championship and it's great.

Did you expect such buzz??

To be honest, after the second Olympic title, I knew it was going to make some noise. Afterwards I didn’t expect all the venues to be full every time I travel with Poitiers or even at home.

It’s not Poitiers anymore, it’s the Rolling Stones on tour…

That’s it (laughs). It’s always nice to play in full venues. What’s quite funny is that even outside, there are ultimately a lot of Poitiers supporters. I get my little ovation.

Each time you went out, you also took the opportunity to hold a platform so that the French championship could finally develop. The structures, the venues, the money…

Money is the sinews of war, that’s clear. Today, there is a huge difference in terms of finances between the contracts that players have in France and elsewhere in Europe. There is also a big difference in terms of structures. We traveled to quite a few venues. It’s a somewhat distorted championship. When you find yourself playing in Chaumont, in a big hall, and then you have a match in Sète…

“All that distorts the championship”

That is to say ?

It's unfortunate because Sète remains a big club. But when you play there, at 4pm, when the sun shines through the hall, you almost choose which camp you start in like in beach volleyball. All that, I repeat, distorts the championship. There are efforts to be made on the part of the clubs, the federation, the League. It won't happen with the snap of a finger. I hope that our second Olympic gold medal will move things forward.

We've also seen you a lot in all the media. On the show C’est à vous last week for example…

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When returning to France, it would have been a shame not to take advantage of this window of opportunity to try to shine a spotlight on volleyball.

“It would have been crazy not to accept the offer that was made to me”

The rest, unfortunately, will be without you since you announced your departure in the winter transfer window (in Ankara, Turkey) ?

It wasn't an easy choice. With Poitiers, we met a lot to try to find solutions so that I could stay. That goes back to your previous question… Today, when a big European club wants a player, it's very complicated for a French club to keep him. Afterwards, it was special. I was at home, in the city where I grew up, there was a lot of emotion at every match, every training session… But I also had to think about my career, even my post-career. Let's be honest. It would have been madness not to accept the offer that was made to me.

“Montpellier, a very ambitious club”

Fortunately for the French public, you still have four matches to play in the country, including Tuesday's in Montpellier. What is your relationship with this club, this city ?

Montpellier is a city that I know very well, where the French team has had the opportunity to prepare many times. Montpellier is also Nico (Le Goff). He was the first international player to return to France. It is a very ambitious, central club. It is important to boost the championship. There is Mr. Nicollin behind, who has been working for several years. In addition, at the moment, we are neck and neck (Poitiers is 3rd in the ranking, Montpellier 4th). This is going to be a fun game.

Did you speak to Nicolas on the phone?

We talk a lot on our WhatsApp group but for the moment nothing about the match. With Nico, we have the same agent who lives in Montpellier. I know there will be a lot of people. In sporting terms, it will be a big match, a big challenge for us. With Montpellier, we have a bit of the same journey this season. It will be very physical and tactical. Maybe we have a little less experience than MHSC VB. But with a lot of passion and desire…

How do you see the rest of the championship without you?

There are four teams above the rest: Tourcoing, Montpellier, Chaumont and Poitiers. That being said, last year, Saint-Nazaire was seventh during the regular season and finally won the title. This championship is super homogeneous. When the play-offs arrive, all the cards are redistributed. It will be hot until the end.

Five months after the end of the Olympics, what image do you keep?

The medal ceremony. It was incredible. We all have this image in our heads.

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