Marcel Desailly, the 1998 World Cup champion with the French national team, is currently facing a particularly difficult financial period.
At 56 years old, Desailly, a former pillar of the French team and 1998 World Cup champion, is going through a time marked by serious financial and personal struggles, despite a prestigious career that saw him shine at OM, AC Milan, and Chelsea. According to Le Parisien, the former footballer claims to be “nearly bankrupt” and is involved in several legal disputes. This Tuesday, he appeared before the Paris judicial court in a case with his ex-partner, Cosma Batista de Alcantara, the mother of their 10-year-old daughter, Victoria, whom he had only recently recognized through a DNA test. The court could potentially order him to pay a monthly child support of 5,000 euros.
A tax adjustment and plummeting income
Marcel Desailly’s financial troubles have worsened in recent years. Formerly a consultant for BeIN Sports until August 2022, where he earned a monthly salary of 8,600 euros, he is now without a contract. Additionally, he has not generated any income from his companies based in France and Ghana since 2009.
Since 2022, he has been facing a tax adjustment related to tax evasion between 2011 and 2019. He now owes the French tax authorities 5,000 euros per month, a burden that adds to his many financial obligations, including child support for his legitimate children and another daughter, Aïda, born in 1990, whom he had previously refused to recognize.
To meet these expenses, he is said to have been forced to sell some of his assets. However, his ex-partner questions the truthfulness of his claims. “Since I’ve known him, he’s always claimed he didn’t have a penny,” she says. She adds, skeptical: “He promised an apartment on Rue de la Paix in Paris, but we never lived there.”
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