Angers SCO recently agreed a medical partnership and formalised a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Aspetar, the leading orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital. The MoU was signed by Aspetar’s Acting Director General Dr. Mohamed Ghaith Al-Kuwari and President of Angers Sporting Club de l’Ouest, Mr. Said Chabane.

In a clear sign of how significant the development is for the club, two of the team’s star players – Alexandre Letellier and Billy Ketkeophomphone – travelled to Aspetar to receive treatment, accompanied by team physician Anthony Tondut and fitness coach Benoit Pickeu.

Angers SCO is the latest club to enter into such an agreement with Aspetar. The news follows existing partnerships that Aspetar has established with some of Europe’s biggest clubs including Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur FC.

The agreement confirms the hospital’s status as one of the World’s leading sports medicine institutions, staffed by leading practitioners and researchers. The MoU is a clear testament to the effectiveness of Aspetar’s multidisciplinary approach to athlete management as well as its focus on the comprehensive assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of injured athletes.

A senior delegation led by Mr. Said Chabane and Oliver Pickeu, General Manager of Angers Sporting Club de l’Ouest, travelled to Doha last month to confirm the terms of the memorandum between the club and Aspetar, a FIFA-accredited Medical Centre of Excellence. As part of their visit, delegates were given a comprehensive tour of the hospital’s facilities, and briefed about the services it provides to elite athletes globally.

The agreement will support partnership and collaboration designed to benefit both athletes and patients, and means that Aspetar will provide multidisciplinary clinical sports and medical services to the club’s players. Such services include injury and illness diagnosis, as well as treatment and prevention with a focus on sports surgical treatment and rehabilitation.

In addition, Angers SCO will benefit from sports science services and access to facilities at Aspetar for players from the club including performance assessment, screening, specific testing, nutritional assessment and advice and podiatrists services.

Confirming the agreement, Aspetar’s Acting Director General Dr. Mohamed Ghaith Al-Kuwari said:

We’re delighted by the prospect of working so closely with Angers SCO. Our team are truly committed to providing first-class medical care to elite athletes and to sharing the benefit of our world-leading expertise.

Adding to our existing arrangements with other clubs in Europe and elsewhere, this news is yet further proof of our ability to deliver a multidisciplinary approach to athlete management.

Commenting on the news, Said Chabane, President of Angers SCO said:

We’re very happy to formalise this relationship between our two organisations and begin our journey together in support of the future development and success of our club. We’re fortunate to have an medical provider that offers expertise, clinical skills and an approach to managing athletes that rank amongst the very highest in the world. This partnership bodes extremely well for the future of the club

Commenting on the news, Oliver Pickeu, General Manager of Angers SCO said:

Accessing the world-class facilities and expertise at Aspetar presents a huge opportunity for us. This partnership offers our club so much scope and potential, enabling us to enhance and improve each and every facet of the medical management and treatment of our players. It will play a crucial part in enabling us to play to the highest standards. Billy Ketkeophomphone and Alexandre Letellier are the very first players to benefit from this agreement and we can expect many more to do the same in due course. This marks the beginning of what I expect will be a very successful collaboration

About Aspetar:

ASPETAR is a world leading specialised orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital, and the first of its kind in the Middle East. Since 2007, with a world expert team, the hospital has provided top-level comprehensive medical treatment to all athletes in a state-of-the-art facility that sets new standards internationally.

In 2009, Aspetar was accredited as a “FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence” by F-MARC. In 2013, Aspetar was adopted as a reference collaborator centre by the Gulf Countries Council (GCC) Health Ministers Council and “IOC Research Centre for Prevention of Injury and Protection of Athlete Health” in 2014.

In 2015, Aspetar has been recognised as the “IHF Reference Centre for Athlete and Referee Health”. In the same year, the hospital also achieved the obtained on December 15 the Accreditation Canada International (ACI) “Platinum Level”.

ASPETAR is a member–organisation of Aspire Zone Foundation, Qatar’s innovative sports and healthy lifestyle destination.

About Angers SCO:

Angers SCO is an upcoming football club created in 1919 that has spent 25 seasons in its history in the French first league.

It has secured, under Chabane’s leadership, its spot in the premier French football league, Ligue 1, 21 years after its last passage.

In order to return and stay in first league, the club invested in a new training center that opened its gates in 2013 and offers now great working facilities

The 2015-16 season, the first one after years in second league, was a success. The club created the surprise by staying in the first places of the Ligue 1 and ended at the 9^th position which was a great result for a club that just returned in the top French championship.

Stéphane Moulin, the Angers SCO’s coach, was also nominated as one of the four best coaches in Ligue 1 at the end of the season.