The French women’s team is on the verge of its first continental title. Like Kylian Mbappé and others in 2021, Amandine Henry and the Blues are aiming for the Nations League at the end of February and that starts with the semi-final against Germany this Friday evening at Groupama Stadium, in the suburbs of Lyon. A very good poster, revenge of the semi-final of Euro 2022 lost by France, which currently only attracts around 25,000 spectators while the stadium has a capacity of almost 60,000 seats (the FFF has opened around 30,000 places for sale).
Questioned on this subject during a long interview to be found on Friday in our columns, Amandine Henry confides her incomprehension. “There is still work to do,” breathes the former OL player. It is hopeless. What more needs to be done? We, the players, give our all. It’s a beautiful poster, it’s a beautiful stadium, a beautiful city… We don’t know what to do. We talk about it, we ask ourselves the question: what can we do to fill stadiums? When we see other countries, it works. Why doesn’t it work for us? We don’t really understand. »
“There are still places, take them”
The midfielder with 98 caps, aged 34, then cites the examples of Spain, England or the United States, which she knows from having played in Portland (2016-2017) and now in Los Angeles. When the list of 24 players called up for this match was announced on Wednesday February 14, coach Hervé Renard made the same appeal: “I hope the stadium will be as full as possible. It’s a message: there are still places available so take them. » Since then, around 3,000 additional tickets have been sold, bringing the total to around 25,000.
“We are very close to winning this first trophy with the French team,” recalls Amandine Henry. We dreamed of having attractive matches more often so this is the opportunity. That won’t stop us from giving our all. » Places are still on sale, between 10 and 50 euros each (between 7 and 35 euros for FFF licensees). In the event of victory, Les Bleues will play the final in Seville (Spain) or Heerenveen (Netherlands). Last December, in Rennes, they won against Austria (3-0) at Roazhon Park in Rennes in front of more than 26,000 people, a record for the French team in France since the 2019 World Cup .
