Étoile Sportive de Gimont’s Journey to Success: Coupe d’Occitanie Final and Season Turnaround

Today in L’Isle-Jourdain the finals of the Occitanie Cup are taking place, which will concern, for boys, the U17, U20 and seniors as well as, for the girls, the U18 and, mainly, the seniors , Étoile Sportive de Gimont playing this crucial match against US Colomiers. An opponent that the ESG obviously knows well. On the one hand by the proximity of the two cities, which means that the teams meet on multiple occasions, in official competitions or in friendly matches, for preparation matches. On the other hand because the two clubs play in the same group A of Women’s National 1 (NF1), the first clash between the two having seen the Gersoises win by two points (65-63) in Colomiers.

Suffice it to say that the two teams, who occupy 10th and 11th places in their group (ahead of the Federal Center, which cannot go down to NF2) are counting on this final to “recover their icing” or, at least, to find the smile arising from victory.

For this meeting and the rest of the season, Colomiers has strengthened itself, thanks to financial resources incommensurate with those of Gimont. Thus, Rosette Mendy (24 years old) will come to occupy the full-back position, coming from La Glacerie, another NF1 team. She will be accompanied by Jessica Clemençon, interior player who knows the Haute-Garonne club well having already played there before leaving for professional reasons.

In short, Saturday’s Colomiers will probably not be the one defeated in September by the Étoilistes. Which does not prevent the Gersoises of Julie Bergada and Sylvie Gruszczynski from aiming for this trophy, both honorary (it is no small thing to be winner of the Occitanie Cup) and pragmatically interesting. Indeed, winning this cup qualifies for the Coupe de France Trophy, an event reserved for NF1 clubs and lower levels. And, if a team passes at least two rounds in this event, it gains one point in its championship ranking. In other words, if Gimont wins the Occitanie Cup then passes two rounds in the Trophy, the team will have one more point in the NF1 ranking, a point which may prove crucial at the end of the year and be synonymous with maintaining rather than losing. relegation.

This shows that today’s match at 6:15 p.m. is of particular interest for both teams.