The French women’s football team before the Nations League final against Spain at La Cartuja stadium, in Seville, February 28, 2024. CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP
Between now and its start in the Olympic tournament, against Colombia on July 25 in Décines-Charpieu (Rhône), the French women’s football team does not plan to be idle. On the program: six qualifying matches for Euro 2025 between April 5 and July 16, including two double confrontations against big names from the Old Continent – Sweden and England. “It’s hard to plan for the Olympics [Jeux olympiques], the preparation is special. It will be done with very intense and decisive matchesrecognizes the vice-captain of the Bleues, Eugénie Le Sommer. We can’t calculate and it’s more complicated to try things. »
Friday April 5, Hervé Renard’s players host Ireland in Metz (kick-off at 9:10 p.m.). Four days later, they travel to the Scandinavians, third in the 2023 World Cup. Two prestigious clashes will follow, on May 31 and June 4, against the Three Lionesses, reigning European champions and finalists of the World Cup in Australia. Then, they will return to Sweden on July 12, before closing the sequence, on the 16th, against the Girls in Green in Dublin, less than ten days, therefore, before the start of the Games.
To this busy schedule, many French internationals will also have to add crucial club deadlines. The Champions League for the players of Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Lyonnais, opposed in the semi-finals on April 21 and 28, and the final of which will be played on May 25. But also the brand new D1 Arkema playoffs, on May 12 and 17, for the selected teams playing in one of the four best teams of the season in the championship.
Enough to take aback from Lyonnaise Le Sommer. “I ask you: do the boys have a decisive double gathering in July? What I have a problem with are these two matches. [contre la Suède, le 12, et contre l’Irlande, le 16] which shouldn’t be there. » More than a considerable number of matches, it is their scheduling date, given their importance, that the top scorer in the history of the selection (with 93 goals) deplores. “For me, after a competition, it’s vacationshe explains. However, when you know that a few days after your return, you have to play in qualifying for the Euro… Your body and your head don’t have time to rest. »
“Know where you are and progress”
The eighteen selected for the Games, supported by four alternates, will still have a few days to breathe following the second match against England, on June 4. Until the start of the Olympic gathering on June 24.
To prepare for the Olympic deadline in the best possible conditions, the Bleues staff hopes to negotiate the start of qualifying as best as possible. “It’s up to us to ensure that we accumulate as many points as possible over the first four matches to arrive at those in July with a little less stress”, develops Laurent Bonadei, Hervé Renard’s deputy. But if France has not validated its ticket for the Euro by then, there will be no question “to sacrifice” one of the last two qualifying matches, he insists.
Read also | Canada, Colombia and New Zealand will face the French women’s football team at the Paris Games
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Even if they will not be able to be the subject of as many experiments as if they were friendlies, the second act of the confrontations against Sweden and Ireland “will be fully integrated into the preparation” in Paris 2024, assures Laurent Bonadei. They will also be an opportunity to make some adjustments. “In Hervé’s idea [Renard], it is possible from one match to another to have a few small adjustments to see the best complementarities between the players. »
Despite bad luck, both staff and Bleues agree on one point: the benefit of competing against the best teams. A way of “know where we are and progress”for Eugénie Le Sommer. “We come across very big nations [en qualifications pour l’Euro]. This will allow us to get into the swing of things for the Games, where no country will be weaker than the others”, adds her teammate Selma Bacha. “ These are matches that will prepare us well for the intensity of the Olympics”also hopes Laurent Bonadei.
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In Paris, the unfortunate finalists of the Nations League (2-0 defeat against Spain) will meet the elite of women’s football, while the tournament, reduced to twelve teams, will bring together the best players in the world with no age limit – contrary to the rule in force among their male counterparts. A field so high that England or even Sweden did not even manage to qualify. That is to say.
Our selection of articles on the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games
Find all our content on the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games:
How the Olympics prepare for the risk of epidemics
France facing a growing and multifaceted terrorist threat
Ile-de-France businesses are organizing for the Olympic and Paralympic Games
Should we fear the worst in transport in Ile-de-France?
Transport during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris: from the euphoria of promises to the shock of reality
The Paris 2024 Olympic Village takes up residence in Seine-Saint-Denis
A logistical time trial at the Olympic Village for the Organizing Committee
Bernard Thibault: “For the 2024 Games, our objective is to demonstrate that major events are not incompatible with high social rights
Athlete preparation
Inauguration and crowd bath for Clarisse Agbégnénou before the home stretch of her Olympic preparation
The marathon course shakes up athletes’ training habits
Four months before the Paris 2024 Olympics, all the lights are green for “the king of swimming” Leon Marchand
A simulation of an Olympic archery tournament for the Blues to shine at the Games
Does France really have the means to shine in the medal rankings?
Volleyball player Lucille Gicquel, Olympic pioneer in a family of champions
Anastasiia Kirpichnikova, swimmer in geopolitical turmoil after passing under the French flag
Simone Biles on her way to Paris 2024: “I’m getting old and I have more to lose”
The question of the presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes
Russia and the IOC reignite a cold war in world sport
“All the ingredients come together to replay an episode in the long history of Olympic boycotts”
Thomas Bach, President of the IOC: “The aggressiveness of the Russian government is growing day by day, against the Committee, against the Games, against me”
The government is struggling to distribute its free tickets to people with disabilities
The Organizing Committee ensures that it has completed more than 90% of its revenue budget
Tony Estanguet confirms that there have been salary increases at the management of the Games Organizing Committee
In search of savings, the organizers of the Games are seeking help from partner communities
Ongoing legal investigations
Tony Estanguet, the boss of the Games, in his turn in the sights of justice
The “four musketeers” of the organizing committee targeted by the PNF
The Olympic Torch Relay
Some municipalities are irritated by the requirements and costs linked to hosting the torch relay
The government steps on the accelerator to close the accessibility gap
Seine-Saint-Denis and the Games
La Courneuve between enthusiasm and concern regarding the transformation of Georges-Valbon Park
The Red Star Rugby of Saint-Ouen deprived of a stadium because of the Games
An island, an eco-friendly mayor and “the chance” to benefit from the Games
Paris at Games time
As the Games approach, anti-poverty associations fear “social cleansing”
Enthusiastic inauguration for the Adidas Arena, the new venue at Porte de la Chapelle
The Games are not just Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis
Marseille is banking on the arrival of the Olympic flame to arouse interest in the Games
In Martinique and Guadeloupe, Olympic fever rises remotely
In Polynesia, Teahupoo is delighted to host the 2024 Olympic Games but fears overtourism
Environmental issues
The risks of a scorching summer raise fears of a suffocating Olympic Games
Halving the carbon footprint of meals served at the Games: the other challenge of Paris 2024
How the organizers of the Olympic Games plan to deal with a heatwave this summer
The societal issues that the Games highlight
Far from the splendor of the Olympics, the reality of PE lessons in a Montreuil college
At the time of sport, a major national cause, the worrying situation of swimming pools in France
School sport is still looking for the right formula
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