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Ben Old (AS Saint-Étienne | France)

551 replies · 83,925 views
24 days ago
French media are saying that several Nice players wont be in the playoffs due the compulsory obligation by FIFA to release their WC players. So i guess this also means Old will be in Florida and not in France for the playoffs.
However the media report did say it was being negotiated. But i think FIFA rules will apply.
Tough for Ben not being there helping his team get to Ligue 1.
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Endorsed by
kwlapmartinb
23 days ago
Nice lose the Coupe de France final 3-1 to Lens.
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21 days ago
Pro/rel playoff first leg is Wednesday.

The article has left out St Etienne's  Lucas Stassin who has been named in Belgium's squad.  As AV mentioned it is a right mess, with potentially a host of players including OId missing this 2 leg playoff series. Nice 9 WC callups & St Etienne 4.

Bazeley within his rights to say No, Ben needs to report for training camp in Florida.
FDV clearly not 100% match fit, and it's highly likely Libby isn't either. He hasn't played any actual football in months.

2nd playoff leg May 30th (NZT at Nice). That leg may have to be behind closed doors, due to Nice fans misbehaving. But apparently Nice's players may prefer that given their fans anger towards their recent performances!! All very French

https://onefootball.com/en/news/nice-face-possible-behind-closed-doors-play-off-and-fraught-cup-final-amid-fan-fury-42894223

https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2026/oversight-could-see-ogc-nice-and-saint-etienne-deprived-of-international-players-for-ligue-1-relegation-play-off/

Due to OGC Nice’s participation in the final of the Coupe de France, the two-legged relegation play-off between Le Gym and AS Saint-Étienne has been postponed. Nice will face RC Lens in the cup final on Friday, before then facing ASSE in Saint-Étienne on Tuesday and then again in Nice on Friday.

However, before that is a crucial date. On 25th May, the day before the first leg, FIFA obliges clubs to release their players for the upcoming FIFA World Cup. It is possible to request an exemption, which, of course, has been obtained for the UEFA Champions League final. The LFP requested the same, as per a report from L’Équipe, however the request has been rejected by FIFA. 

As a result, both Nice and Saint-Étienne will have to negotiate with the respective nations of each player called up for the World Cup in order to retain them. Nice could lose Ali Abdi (Tunisia), Elye Wahi (Ivory Coast), Yehvann Diouf (Senegal), Antoine Mendy (Senegal), Hicham Boudaoui (Algeria), Kojo Peprah Oppong (Ghana), Salis Abdul Samed (Ghana), Moise Bombito (Canada), and Mohamed Abdelmonem (Egypt). 

Les Verts, meanwhile, could lose Ben Old (New Zealand), Augustine Boakye (Ghana), and Ebenezer Annan (Ghana). Negotiations with the federations of those nations will now have to take place.
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21 days ago · edited 20 days ago · History
These two teams also know each other well.

https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/saint-etienne/preview/st-etienne-vs-nice-prediction-team-news-lineups_598111.html

Les Aiglons (Nice) bested Saint-Etienne 2-1 in the fifth round of the French Cup en route to this year's final, a result that marked their fifth consecutive win against their hosts, who were humiliated 8-0 by Nice in the top flight as recently as September 2024. 
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20 days ago · edited 20 days ago · History
Old still in France and named in SE's 22 man for tonight's playoff 1st leg. Though seems he's under an injury cloud.
Looks like he will miss the Haiti warm up game, if he stays in France for both playoff legs.

Augustine Boakye (Ghana) and Lucas Stassin (Belgium) also both named in the 22. Stassin is going to the World Cup, and Boakye is named in Ghana's preliminary 28 man squad.


Philippe Montanier before #ASSEOGCN : "Ben Old has a hamstring injury and is doubtful. We'll decide tomorrow after one final muscle warm-up. Djylian N’Guessan is out. Florian Tardieu is back and that's good news, even though we know he won't be able to play a full match."

The 22 Greens called up for #ASSEOGCN!
The first leg playoff for promotion to @Ligue1  is tomorrow at the Chaudron! 
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20 days ago
This is BS. NZF should inforce the FIFA rules and get Ben out of France. Especially if he has a tight hammy. The priority is our AW campaign. We have two LBs under a cloud. Libby hasnt played since early February and its hard to see him getting much game time. FDV doesnt look 100%. In his little cameo in the AL final he looked slow. He had huge trouble defensively against Lolley.
Saint Etienne dont care about the WC. They just want to win the playoff. They will play Ben if they can. If he tears his hammy then thats a huge issue for the AWs. Get him to Florida and rehab
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Endorsed by
AucklandPhoenix
20 days ago
On the other hand, Baze is probably thinking as follows:

Yes, it would be great to win a game. However, we could play to our potential and lose every game. Part of the importance of the games is the exposure this will get some of our players close to a decent move. 

If Ben plays in the playoff and is able to establish his Ligue 1 career, that is arguably much more important or at least of equal importance to the World Cup to the overall All Whites cause. 

Just to give the other side of the coin. 


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Endorsed by
Oi Oi Edgecumbe
20 days ago
SE will want Old to go to the WC and do well. 

They will receive some FIFA cash every day he is at the WC, and if they don't get promoted they may need to off load some players, if the lack of promotion is a financial hit. Old is contracted at SE to June 2028. The WC could be a shop window for him.

It's not only Old who is still in France with SE, but a player each from the Ghanian & Belgian national teams. 21 yr old striker Stassin the Belgian has interest apparently from several EPL clubs.

The AWs physios will be talking to the St Etienne physios about Old's fitness. Maybe it's better he gets treatment in France before flying? 

But yeah it's a far from ideal situation. And any clusterfuck of French club football scheduling, ain't NZ's fault.
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20 days ago
Nice fc is owned by non other than Jim Ratcliffe. Second richest man in the UK worth 29 billion pounds. 
He bought Nice for around 100 million euros but seems to have lost interest now he has a new shiney toy in Man U.
Not a good look if they get relegated to Ligue 2 but i dont think Jimbo will lose any sleep over it....whats 100 mill euros?
Ratcliffe was the guy who donated heaps to the Brexit campaign and after moved out of England  to Monaco for tax reasons.
Confusion this morning about the WC players. Lequipe newspaper has Ben listed as playing LB. Other press said the clubs are still negotiating with the Federations. Total chaos. 
I will be watching tonight because its on free to air France tv.
Home game for Saint Etienne and they have already sold 33000 tickets. Not bad for a Tuesday night.
The Ligue 1 side should win but both sides are in poor form.
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20 days ago
Old is not playing. Not even on the sub bench. He hope is traveling to meet up with the boys.
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20 days ago
No Ben. Either his hammy is still a problem or hes on his eay to Florida.
Close match with not many chances. Nice probably shading it.
Stunning ambience. Stadium absolutely packed. Really cool tifos at kickoff and loads of noise and flares. SE crowd really up for this. They deserve to be in Ligue 1 
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Endorsed by
martinbOi Oi EdgecumbePK
20 days ago · edited 20 days ago · History
0-0 draw

Belgian Stassin and Ghanaian Boakye both started. So you suspect Old is still in France


https://twitter.com/ASSEofficiel/status/2059336171994386865

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Endorsed by
martinb
19 days ago
I mean this could be a chance for Ben to play the biggest game of his career, if he gets minutes in the second leg!

Now there’s no playoffs there won’t be the RoF rocking. World Cup games won’t be packed with NZ fans. The atmosphere will be different.

This could be one of the most consequential games with a stadium packed with his home fans he will have a chance to play in.


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Endorsed by
PK
19 days ago
Isn’t the second leg away?

Auckland will rise once more

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Endorsed by
coochiee
19 days ago · edited 19 days ago · History
AucklandPhoenix wrote:
Isn’t the second leg away?
Ah. 

Well, in that case it’ll be pin drop quiet with no ASSE fans at all…😄



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19 days ago · edited 19 days ago · History
It was quite a post however - one of your best and emotive ones!!

Auckland will rise once more

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19 days ago
martinb wrote:
 AucklandPhoenix wrote:
Isn’t the second leg away?
Ah. 

Well, in that case it’ll be pin drop quiet with no ASSE fans at all…😄


Yes apparently it might be closed doors after Nice fan's misbehaviour of late.

And apparently the fan hate on their team has been so strong, the Nice players ain't that upset will be no home fans in attendance!
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19 days ago
coochiee wrote:
 martinb wrote:
 AucklandPhoenix wrote:
Isn’t the second leg away?
Ah. 

Well, in that case it’ll be pin drop quiet with no ASSE fans at all…😄


 
Yes apparently it might be closed doors after Nice fan's misbehaviour of late.

And apparently the fan hate on their team has been so strong, the Nice players ain't that upset will be no home fans in attendance!
The more I post the more I learn. 


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18 days ago
coochiee wrote:
St Etienne travel to Nice, 2nd leg pro/rel playoff. 1st leg was 0-0


https://us.soccerway.com/game/nice-YagoQJpq/st-etienne-YL2QybFe/?mid=dIyJLZhe

And yes is confirmed match is behind closed doors. You would think football fans on the beautiful French Riveria would be a tranquil lot. Not so.
https://www.thescore.com/news/3546395
 An empty stadium will help SE.
The Nice fans are far from nice.
The area is a bastion of the far right national front. Their fans have been the source of lots of anti sociial behaviour and they frequently get banned from traveling to other matches.
 There is always fights, especially when they travel to left wing socialists citys like  Marseille. The Nice  vs OM derbys are firery. The fascists against the socialists as the OM fans call it. They often need over a 1000 riot police to keep the peace. I have been to matches in the region where i wonder if i can get home in one piece. You certainly dont wear your team colours downtown

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Endorsed by
coochiee
17 days ago
Ben is on the bench for the second leg of the playoffs for a Ligue 1 place. Winner tonight goes up.
It was so tight first leg 0-0 i would not be surprised if goes to pens
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17 days ago
They lost 4 - 1 and Ben stayed on the bench

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17 days ago
hepatitis wrote:
They lost 4 - 1 and Ben stayed on the bench

 
Not ideal they lost promotion. Ben Old should get more game time in Ligue 2 than Ligue 1 though. The main priority for him should be getting on field, so he is ready for the All Whites each year. 
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17 days ago · edited 17 days ago · History
Disappointing result for SE. Belgium's Stassin & Ghana's Bokaye both started.
SE's bad form the last 1-2 months proving costly.

Old got game time all season in Ligue 2. He played 30 games (1,880 mins). 
He had the 8th most mins of anyone in St Etienne's pretty stable starting 11.

He only missed these two playoff matches due to his injury.

Contracted to 2028 at SE, he may even be sold to a Ligue One club. You suspect in France for now he is a LB.

A major plus for Old is that he seems to enjoy playing there, and if it means starting and/or playing at a higher level, he doesn't seem too fussed that he's no longer a left winger.
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Endorsed by
martinb
16 days ago
Disaster for a big club like SE to stay in Ligue 2. They got a 40,000 crowd on a Tuesday for the home playoff. They have by far the biggest budget i L2 nearly 35 million euros. There billionaire Canadian owner wont be happy.
Its their own fault. They were cruising toward automatic promotion then lost 3 games out of 4 including to bottom of the league Bastia.
But its not a disaster for Ben. Hes solidly in the first 11. He might also be up for a transfer. Hes impressed lots of people with his play at LB

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Endorsed by
coochieekwlapmartinb
12 days ago
Niche Cache. You look at these stats, and you think his future is more now as a LB, than left winger.
That's without some major improvement with his play around the attacking 3rd, which could yes yet happen.

 
Ben Old has two more years on his contract there so nothing changes for him. The form that the team showed after Philippe Montagnier came in as coach was worthy of promotion and Ben Old was a big part of that in his own unique way. He’s obviously not a typical fullback coming at this position from a different perspective as he is... but it seems he’s making it work. For one thing, his pace would have been very useful against the transitional goals they conceded late against Nice. Have a look at this scouting graphic that’s turned up...
On the whole he ranks as a middling left-back... though you can see there are some things he does superbly. Very much one of those ‘he’s great in the right system’ players. The ratings there are percentiles compared to other Ligue 2 defenders and naturally they’re in French though you can probably figure out most of them. Goals and assists are low because he only had 1 goal and 2 assists all season (and 1G/1A came in the opening game when he was still a forward)... but he’s 97th percentile for 2nd/3rd degree Key Passes (ie not the bloke who makes the key pass but the bloke who gets that bloke the ball... or the bloke who gets the bloke who gets that bloke the ball the ball) and his physical numbers are massive. You get a pretty good idea of what he’s like as a player just by looking at the particulars that he does well. He’s very good in the build-up, doesn’t make many errors or commit fouls, and he works extremely hard.

Ben Old’s Left-Back Skill Set
  • 2nd/3rd degree Key Passes (97th percentile)

  • Fouls (94)

  • Yellow Cards (86)

  • Attacking Duels (87)

  • High Intensity Runs (78)

  • High Intensity Distance (76)

  • Total Sprints (85)

  • Sprinting Distance (87)

  • Sudden Accelerations (90)

  • Passes Received (90)

  • Successful Passes (87)

  • Forward Passes (87)

Strengths
  • High percentage of his shots are on target

  • Makes few mistakes

  • Lots of touches in the opposition’s area

Areas of Improvement
  • Wasteful passing in the attacking third

  • Rarely looks to find passes behind the defensive line

  • Not very accurate with his long passing 
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11 days ago
These stats are good but with some obvious areas to improve in.
Also Ben got moved to LB midseason. So he had to learn on the job. In the beginning he was cautious not wanting to make errors. This would have distorted his stats a bit.
Next season he will be the main man at LB. He will get a full offseason and plenty of dedicated training in the position. He will hit the ground running. I expect him to be top LB in Ligue 2 next season
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