Masked and remote. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the French Football Federation established a very strict health protocol for this particular Coupe de France final. The President of the Republic, present in the official stand, will come down to greet the players on the lawn before the start of the match. On the other hand, Emmanuel Macron, masked and accompanied by Noël Le Graët, the president of the FFF, will not shake hands with Parisians and Stéphanois as usual. The Head of State should be satisfied with a little word addressed to each player in the final, at the regulatory distance.
Likewise, the end-of-match protocol has been revised and lightened. The losers and the winners will not climb the flight of steps to greet public figures from the stands (Jean-Michel Blanquer the Minister of National Education, Youth and Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, Minister Delegate in charge of Sports, Anne Hidalgo Mayor de Paris are announced), before the President of the Republic hands the Coupe de France to the captain of the victorious team.
An unprecedented medal ceremony
The disinfected trophy will be placed on a stele placed on the lawn. No one will be allowed to touch him except the captain of PSG (Thiago Silva) or Saint-Etienne (Loïc Perrin), who will then join his partners on a podium again mounted on the field. Ditto for medals vested in players. These will be placed on a silver platter and only the players in the finale will be able to take them. As for the winners, they will be able to greet their audience but from the field.
The goal is of course to prevent the virus from spreading. For this, the two teams, as well as the referee and his assistants, underwent PCR tests on Wednesday, and a clinical examination was also carried out on Thursday, without any positive case having been declared by the medical staff. If a player were to develop symptoms indicating a potential Covid-19 infection on match day, they should immediately self-isolate at their hotel.
The health crisis will be the common thread of this evening. A minute of applause for the nursing staff was scheduled just before the start of the meeting. And to cover the lack of public – only 5,000 people, including the players, their management, the organization, officials, journalists or even stewards, while the Saint-Etienne club decided to leave 900 vacant seats , are authorized for this meeting – tarpaulins have been installed on the empty seats on the first floor of the stadium and the television production will embed a “Final of the Coupe de France” logo on the completely deserted upper ring. Finally, only 80 journalists and 20 photographers are authorized to cover this final against 400 and 60 in a normal context.
