When you have to choose between basketball and the sport that governs your daily life today, Raphaël Reynaud doesn’t hesitate for a moment: “Futsal. I love this game, I’ve made my life out of it. » For a long time, the coach oscillated between the floors of these two disciplines. Before making a choice: on this Wednesday, January 7, he is at the National Football Center (CNF) in Clairefontaine (Yvelines), where he is preparing for the 2026 European Futsal Championship. Sunday, January 25, his players will face Latvia, after conceding a draw against Croatia (2-2), when they entered the competition.
If futsal has gradually taken over, the native of Puy-en-Velay (Haute-Loire) still has a thought for basketball, this other passion that his mother, a player and coach, introduced him to. “I have always had this dual practice. It allowed me to have a different understanding of the game from others. I always say that futsal is basketball with the feet”estimates the one who became coach of the Blues in 2021, when the latter were at 21e rank in the FIFA rankings. Five years later, thanks to his methods, the Tricolores now occupy 10th placee place.
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