The paragraph slipped into a statement, but caught the attention of thousands of amateur footballers. The French Football Federation (FFF) announced on Tuesday on its website, in a text which explains the conditions for resuming an individual practice, that “the return to training with contacts is currently scheduled for December 15, 2020, subject to changes in the health situation and State authorization ”.
The information, quickly taken up, would go against the deconfinement protocol set for the moment by the government. Thursday, November 26, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced that there would be “no team sports for adults before January 20”.
The FFF wants to save the Coupe de France
Contacted, the Ministry of Sports considers “premature” the announcement of the French Football Federation and explains that this file has not yet been decided by the interministerial crisis unit. The Deputy Minister Roxana Maracineanu intends to support this point to allow a faster recovery of the amateur world. According to our information, this hypothesis is still unlikely as it stands.
For the FFF, the challenge is above all to save its Coupe de France, a competition that earns it 36 million euros. However, a resumption of “classic” collective training for amateurs in the middle of January would undoubtedly shake up the calendar too much to be able to complete it.
“It’s almost done, explained the president of the FFF, Noël Le Graët, Sunday, November 29 on the France 3 Bretagne plateau. I do not see how to play this competition in the dates except to play until the end of July. The decision deserves an important meeting at the Federation next week (Editor’s note: this week) to imagine a calendar that can hold up, both for pro football and for amateur football. “
