The Judo Pro League is back for a third season. On the program: more suspense and more adrenalin with highlights and spectacular encounters.

This year, 14 franchises will be vying for the title of French mixed-team champion. With just a few days to go before the resumption of France's first mixed professional league on October 8, we take a look at the teams involved. Find out all you need to know about the SGS Judo, US Orléans Judo Loiret, Normandie Judo and Dojo Béglais teams.

 

SGS Judo 

Last year's finalist returns to the French mixed team championship. The Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois franchise will be out for revenge and their first title!

Back in the 80s, before it became the norm, Sainte-Geneviève's directors used to take their youngsters to tournaments in Germany or Denmark, earning themselves a nickname in the process: Little House on the Prairie. Pascal Renault, president for thirty years, was Charles Ingalls, the father of the family. "We'd get teased, but we'd beat up a lot of people," laughs the manager, unstoppable when it comes to going back in time.

Today, nothing has changed: the Essonne club is still one of the favourites in the competitions it contests. Boys or girls, youth or senior, "we've had an exceptional track record over the last fifteen years". The list is too long to go into in detail. However, the philosophy behind these successes can be summed up in three words: priority to the teams. "When they shine, we can bring out the best in individuals. That's our leitmotiv", sums up the manager.

The club, which will be sixty years old in 2024, has given itself another mission, one of citizenship. "Before turning them into champions, we want them to be men and women we can be proud of, trained by irremovable coaches, some of whom have been with us for fifteen years". Once SGS, always SGS.

 

Normandie Judo 

Quarter-finalists last year, Normandie Judo enter this Judo Pro League with the ambition of reaching a Final Four and becoming the first regional franchise to reach this stage of the competition.

Normandy has seen the emergence of great judokas such as David Douillet and Fabien Canu, "but has not been able to keep them", regrets the manager.Normandie Judo's position is clear: quality athletes and training, but as much as possible with links to the region. As a result, the team is made up of fighters who are either licensed in Normandy or have passed through the Caen or Rouen "pôles espoirs".

Establishing an entity independent of the Ligue de Normandie by 2024 is plan A. However, retaining the regional team format in the future is a possibility. A number of towns have expressed an interest in hosting Normandie Judo on a permanent basis in the future. This year, three different departments will host Pro League matches. "Here, we have the particularity of being fairly close-knit. We liked the idea of establishing a regional identity. What's more, all the clubs are keen to support us," concludes an optimistic Jean Mesnildrey.

 

US Orleans Judo Loiret

US Orléans made it to the Final Four in 2022, but missed out on the competition in 2023 by failing to progress beyond the knockout stages. This year, the team led by Maëlle Di Cintio will be looking to return to the elite of the professional league.

In November 2022, the US Orléans women's team returned to the top by winning the European Cup for the sixth time, more than ten years after their last success. "We have to live up to our own rich history," says Maëlle Di Cintio. And it's not just judo; jujitsu is also producing convincing results, with world gold for Juliana Ferreira in July 2023.

A keen player herself, she has now stopped fighting on the mats, but has many other battles to fight for the development of US Orleans: with the local authorities, and against the nearby, attractive clubs in the Paris region. "That's life, but we won't give up," says the manager, who has attracted Joseph Terhec from Normandy for the second edition of the Pro League.

Competition is one of the ambitious projects cited by Maëlle Di Cintio to continue making Orléans "a flagship club". But while the club is "doing well" at the top level, it is above all "a place of solidarity" and "a second family" for its 650 members, who find "a place where we feel good, a place to live and share".

 

Dojo Béglais

Founded in 1996 on the site of a former factory by Christophe Dumontier, now Technical Director, the Dojo Béglais is the club of a neighborhood and a town: 80% of its 634 members are locals; the others are Béglais residents who have moved to neighboring towns. Faced with rugby (Union Bègles Bordeaux), women's handball (CAB) and athletics, the club positioned itself as a place for socializing that quickly found its place, soon multiplying the number of members by four and becoming the number one in Gironde in its fourth year of existence. The Aquitaine club, which has been awarded the "sport santé" label, has a motto reminiscent of another famous fast-food chain: come to the dojo as you are.

On the high-level side, athletes who have graduated from the Insep in the Paris region usually remain enrolled at the Béglais Dojo, which in turn develops a business model conducive to their progression: sports, medical, educational and community support. "The aim is to create an attractive model and become more professional," sums up president Olivier Fondriest. In the meantime, the Gironde-based structure relies on the goodwill of all: among the eleven members of its board of directors are parents of members who are happy to share their skills.