Who are BS Group? An exclusive look into the agency behind Simakan and Lukeba

Jacque Talbot

• Updated: 17 Apr 2024 10:39 BST
• 7 min read

Exclusive

BS Group - BS Law are slowly emerging as one of the leading agency powerhouses in France and Europe.

Beyond firms like You First and Sport Cover, this BS Group have cemented themselves as true contenders among the elite companies registered in different countries (France 2013, UK 2019, Middle East 2023, Balkan 2024 and Africa 2024).

FootballTransfers sat down with the agency’s attorney and founder, Badou Sambague, a former player himself as well as a teacher at Paris’ Sorbonne University. He spoke to us about the company’s aspirations, how it all began, and how to navigate constant speculation over his clients.

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“We started the company by working with players like Ousmane Dembelebecause they were from our city and they asked us to manage them," he said. "And then we started to go in other cities (and countries) like Marseille with [Mohamed] Simakan, USA with [Tim] Weah, Lyon with [Castello] Lukeba. So we started the extension once the company was strong enough to develop in different countries.”

Sambague himself hit the ground running after finishing his playing career. He decided to train as a lawyer before making good use of his contacts and friendships. “I started, in law in 2013 in Paris and I started to work with famous players like Dembele, Samuel Umtiti, Riyad Mahrezand Benjamin Mendy.

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"Then after that, most of the players I was advising asked me to be their representative because in France, you can be a lawyer of the players and work like as an exclusive representative. It's not exactly an agent, you have to work for the player and only for the player.”

The blend of law and representative work has worked extremely well for the founder of BS Group. “Now in the company, we have the lawyers at the top and we have some agents working on the intermediary aspect," he said. "And we have the scouts who are following our players and a team looking after all the players we manage.

"Today we are very happy with how we work because the way we work is very clear. We are trying to have not a lot of players, but the best players with the right mentality - players who are ready to work on the education and the sporting aspect, not only football. It is why 95% of the players we have are ready to go in University, we are trying to allow them to develop as players and as person.”

Indeed, BS Group is on a meteoric rise and as such, has started to branch out to other countries as well as France.

“For the future, we hope to be more international and now we started to open our presentation in the Balkans, especially in Bosnia, as well as in the UK and Middle East. One of us will also be in Africa.

So we are more international because all the players are from different countries and most of the players are playing out of France as they started in France and then were transferred to different countries.

Since our inception in 2013, we have signed more than 60 professional contracts in France and in Europe. We have the team to negotiate and draft contracts in French, English, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese..."

“The biggest challenge today for this sort of work is to manage the player in the right way and to show to the player that we are working for the player, not for the clubs (even if we can have common interests), because most of the agents are working for the clubs, even if they are representing the player. So the player needs to see whether a representative is his agent or his lawyer. And that's how we work and how the players trust us because they know that 100% will be with them, even if we had a very good partnership with the clubs. That means that we have to always to say to the player if he is or not on the right way.

“Our strategy was always clear. We believe in working with players of a certain age and very early. It is better to develop a strategy not only on football but to give them the tools to become a man and potentially a leader - whether as a coach or an owner of the club, a worker in a federation [member association], international federation or national federation.

“We do believe that the player can have both opportunities to develop his qualities as a football player and to develop his mindset and his intelligence. It is more than a contract is something very strong and we can have the trust of the player and trust from the family and trust inside the team.”

And what of Leipzig stars Simakan and Lukeba - two players whose future destinations have been well-documented in the media via nebulous speculation?

“Of course, there is some interest from clubs, but we always think: with the player that we have to make the choice to move at the right moment at the right place. And when you want the right moment in the right place, sometimes you have to be patient.

"You have to understand what is the project for the player and what next step would be the best one for him. So of course, we cannot say that today we will move or will not move. And as lawyers, we have to keep a lot of things confidential. That's how we respect the rights of the players."