Noël Vidot

Noël Vidot (born December 15, 1962 in Saint-Denis , Réunion ) is a former French football player . He has been President of the Ligue Réunionnaise de Football since 2015 .

Player career

Youth and first professional station Le Havre (until 1987)

Vidot grew up as the older brother of Jacky Vidot , who was later also active in professional football, on the island of La Réunion in the Indian Ocean, which belongs to France, and began playing football for various local clubs. At the age of 16 he moved to metropolitan France to be trained in football at the INF Vichy academy and thus to have a chance for a future in professional football. Among his teammates there was Jean-Pierre Papin . Vidot finally aroused the interest of the second division Le Havre AC and was able to sign there in the run-up to the 1982/83 season at the age of 19. In the northern French coastal city he was initially intended primarily for the reserve team, but was allowed to train regularly with the professionals. Since he showed good performance in training and several midfielders , including Abdel Djaadaoui and Pascal Drieu, were temporarily absent, coach Yves Herbet enabled him to make his debut in the second division. As a result, the young player came in the course of the 1982/83 season to twelve second division appearances. Subsequently, however, a new coach, Didier Notheaux , was hired, who initially did not rely on him and left the position in defensive midfield to Francis Barthel . After a year without consideration, Vidot's situation changed fundamentally, as Notheaux made him a regular on the position in front of the defense on the side of Poland's Henryk Miłoszewicz . In the league, which was then still divided into two seasons, he experienced a successful 1984/85 season with his team, which ended in first place in the table. So the promotion was achieved and also the second division championship could be won against the first of the group B OGC Nice .

Even after the rise, Vidot was able to maintain its regular place despite a number of experienced teammates and became a key player for the northern French. In the top division Le Havre fought against relegation, which was averted in 1986 only thanks to the better goal difference against AS Nancy . The following season 1986/87 was comparable, in which the class could be held again. In the summer of 1987 Vidot left Le Havre after five years and, despite his regular place in the first division, accepted an offer from the second division team Olympique Nîmes .

With Nîmes, Laval and Le Mans in the second division (1987–1993)

Nîmes was striving to rise to the top class and had therefore strengthened itself in 1987 with numerous other newcomers. Vidot was able to assert himself and become a regular player, but remained with his teammates far from a possible promotion. The squad was subsequently strengthened and with the return of the former national player René Girard Vidot lost his regular place, but was still considered regularly. The southern French were able to improve significantly and qualified for the promotion relegation, but failed in this narrowly. Subsequently, the player received no new contract offer in Nîmes and then joined the also second-rate Stade Laval .

Due to the previous relegation from the first division, Laval had numerous departures in 1989. In this situation, Vidot got a permanent place and narrowly missed the promotion ranks with the team. Although in the run-up to the 1990/91 season again several top performers left the club, Laval was also in the top group this season, although the promotion was not achieved again. The following season ended in the upper midfield. After three years as part of the regular team, the player turned his back on the club in 1992 to join league rivals Le Mans UC .

At Le Mans, Régis Beunardeau and Jean-Luc Gautier were usually placed in his position, which is why he was not given a regular place there. With the West French, he played his last professional year, since he moved to the third division FC Saint-Leu in 1993 and thus in the amateur field. By then he had played 68 first division games with four goals scored and 209 second division games with six goals.

Trainer and functionary on Réunion

In the last years of his professional career, Vidot was accidentally accrued for the selection of the island of Réunion between 1989 and 1992 . After the end of his career, he returned to his home island in the 1990s and then worked there as a player- coach or coach at various clubs . At times he also took over the national team, for which he had once played himself, and led it to winning the soccer tournament of the Indic Ocean Island Games in 2007 , which took place in Madagascar. In the final, the hosts Madagascar were beaten on penalties after a 0-0 over 120 minutes.

At the beginning of 2015, it was announced that Vidot, who was employed full-time at Réunion's capital Saint-Denis, would run for election at the top of a list for the office of President of the Ligue Réunionnaise de Football . Previously, the re-election of long-time President Yves Ethève in 2012 had been declared invalid. In October 2015, Vidot was the only candidate to be elected as the new President of the Réunion Football Association with 100% of the vote - albeit with numerous invalid votes.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Noël Vidot ( Memento of July 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), afterfoot.fr
2. ↑ Football: Noël Vidot , footballdatabase.eu
3. ↑ ^{a b} Le Stade lavallois connaît la musique , laval.maville.com
4. ^ Election de la LRF: "La ligue des clubs" de Noël Vidot pour une ligue "forte et ouverte" , zinfos974.com
5. ^ Présidence de la Ligue réunionnaise de football: Un vote d'adhésion pour Noël Vidot , zinfos974.com