This Euro with eleven cities spread across the continent requires logistical adaptations for followers, supporters and media, but also for the teams involved in the competition. While the Blues had taken up their quarters in Istra (Russia), in the suburbs of Moscow during the 2018 World Cup, Didier Deschamps’ men do not have a pre-established and lasting base camp this time. After staying in Munich for their first match against the Mannschaft (1-0 victory), Hugo Lloris’ partners landed in Budapest on Wednesday evening where they will face Hungary this Saturday (3 p.m.) and Portugal next Wednesday ( 21 hours).
The French team put their bags down at the Marriott hotel in the city center, opposite the Danube and the tourist hill of Buda, and not far from the Puskas Stadium where its next two matches are to take place. But from the final whistle of the match against the Hungarians on Saturday evening, the Blues will join a new resort in Gardony, on the shores of Lake Velence, about fifty kilometers from the center of Budapest. A new transhumance that will allow the world champions to go green for three days, far from the hustle and bustle of the Hungarian capital. It was the wish of Didier Deschamps.
Do not multiply trips
The French staff could have chosen to rally Clairefontaine after each meeting, but his desire was not to multiply the already numerous trips to avoid adding fatigue to fatigue for Mbappé and his partners. The Blues will therefore not see the castle again, except if they finish second in their group F. In this case, and only in this case, they would play their eighth final in London and Deschamps considered that spending four days in France before joining England would not be heresy. In the meantime, this logistics requires the staff of the France team to a good dose of anticipation and adaptation. Thus, it was necessary to provide visas for the entire delegation if France were to play its quarter-final in Saint Petersburg (Russia) or Baku (Azerbaijan).
In the same way, impossible to transport all the equipment of the Blues (massage tables, medical devices, equipment of the players, video equipment…) in the plane which conveys the tricolors. Not to mention that the tricolor selection travels with its two cooks, and that they do not move without their paring knives and a few other utensils necessary for the preparation of Pogba and co’s favorite dishes. Also, last Tuesday, a few hours before the match against Germany, a truck carrying part of the team’s equipment left Munich for Budapest. And on Wednesday, the Federation rented the towels that were used by the players after training at Bayern Campus.
So as not to find yourself in excess baggage when flying to Budapest. It is also by taking care of this sum of small details that one succeeds in his Euro.
