President Emmanuel Macron announced the second confinement on October 28, 2020 in the evening. A decision that would put an end to the amateur football season.
It’s a bad memory that no one forgets. A bad memory that all French people have cursed, even if it was necessary in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. On the evening of October 28, 2020, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron announced a second confinement – after that of March 2020 – which would last four weeks.
The next day, the French Football Federation announced a suspension of competitions until December 1 with three exceptions: “The National, D1 Arkema and D1 Futsal championships are not affected by this decision”. The federal authority nevertheless hoped to be able to keep the activities for children. But no, it was all amateur football that was at a standstill!
“Establishments offering extracurricular, artistic or sports activities, such as sports clubs, will be closed” Prime Minister Jean Castex said at a press conference on the restrictions. He also specified that “Outdoor team sports, such as football, will be banned”.
All sports associations had to shut down completely for a month. Only certain ultra-marine territories continued to play a role, as in Reunion Island with the fourth round of the Coupe de France. At the same time, we inform that the number of licensees animation football (U6 to U11) fell by 18.5% with the previous season … while seniors progressed in both men (+ 0.70%) and women (+ 3.40%). The reverse of this season!
After many procrastinations, the Coupe de France resumed in February 2021. It was the only competition. After a 2019-2020 season ended in March, the 2020-2021 season was finally white with, in particular, clubs that had not played a single league match. We must now hope that this pandemic does not take a turn for the worse as winter approaches with another stop for amateur football!
