European football team launch competition to sign amateur footballer after receiving transfer ban

It's been described as 'The Voice' for football

It's the nightmare scenario for many clubs, being banned from signing any players which can be a death sentence for many clubs in modern football.

While teams like Chelsea get away with their crimes with 'suspended transfer bans' - whatever that is - often the smaller teams have to face real consequences.

This is certainly the case for French second division side Pau FC, who have been slapped with a three-window transfer ban, ultimately putting the club in a rocky place.

Based in the south west of France, Pau is a city better known for its rich Rugby heritage rather than its football, however, the club certainly does punch above its weight for a smaller city.

Despite the club's most notable achievement being to make it into the second division of French football, the team has had a few famous faces turn out at their Nouste Camp stadium.

The likes of Pierre Andre-Gignac, Adrien Rabiot and Édouard Cissé have all donned the Pau shirt, however, there certainly won't be any big names playing down there for a few years as the club deal with a transfer ban.

The club have been banned for three windows following a dispute over the signing of Senegalese footballer Mouhamed Diouf.

This has caused the club to get creative with their recruitment strategy, teaming up with influencer and player in Pau's reserve side, Valentin Liénard, to sign one amateur player on a professional contract.

Liénard, who has 700,000 followers across his Instagram and YouTube channels, launched the challenge yesterday evening under the moniker 'Qui va signer pro?' (Who will sign pro?).

A joint post between Liénard and Pau FC announced the competition which will be in the style of 'The Voice' and other competition shows and promises that one player will be given a professional contract from this June.

The video starts with Liénard saying: "Today, I am launching the craziest video concept of my life.

"I am going to pick 30 subscribers who will go head-to-head to win a contract as a professional footballer.

"In a style similar to a show like 'The Voice' which gives the chance to a singer to become a star, the idea is to give an opportunity to a player who has slipped through the next to become pro and to integrate into a Ligue 2 team."

The video highlights the number of footballers who don't get a second chance or are missed completely in the scouting process.

Liénard says the issue "isn't the talent, it's the opportunity".

Meanwhile, the video cuts to the club president Bernard Laporte-Fray who echoes this point.

He says: "Straight away I think about all the players who didn't get a second chance, often linked to minute details."

Meanwhile Liénard also detailed his own experience in the academy system and playing semi-pro football.

"Since little, I only had one dream: become a professional footballer," he says.

"I had the chance to join a professioanl team and an academy. At Monaca I even had the chance to share a changing room with Kylian Mbappé. Since 17, I've been fighting between National 3 and National 2 (fourth and fifth tier which are semi-pro). I had the chance to play against pros, but signing pro didn't quite happen.

Liénard recalls how only 0.1% of people will make it professionally in France, which is a similar reality to England.

Those interested have three weeks to sign up before being vetted by Liénard who says he will "analyse your journey, your level, your mentality and your story"

The 30 chosen players will then go head-to-head under the keen eyes of staff at Pau FC in "training, matches, tests and real pressure".

"At the end only one will remain," he adds.

"One player will not return to amateur football, but will be a professional footballer as part of the squad of a Ligue 2 team next June," he concludes.

The registration is open to everyone because "talent comes from everywhere", and there is an option to put a nationality other than French on the registration form, suggesting that even those outside of France can sign up.

The sign up sheet is here if you fancy it, although you may need to google translate the page!

Good luck all you budding footballers, make JOE proud.