A lack of enthusiasm? This Sunday, on the eve of this France-Belgium, the FFF hoped to reach 50,000 spectators at the Groupama Stadium for this Nations League match against Belgium, including almost 580 Red Devils supporters. Far from the 59,186 spectators who had filled (to a full house) this same stadium in Décines against Germany last March (0-2), even if the match took place on a Saturday evening.
In addition to the fact that the Blues are not flamboyant at the moment, as evidenced by their pitiful defeat against Italy this Friday (1-3), there is also the date of the match set by UEFA on a Monday evening when the children have returned to school, colleges or other high schools. The absence of Lyonnais among the Blues does not play in favor of a record attendance either. On September 7, 2021, France hosted Finland in Décines for the World Cup qualifiers with a certain Karim Benzema in its ranks, who discovered the Groupama Stadium on this occasion. 55,000 people had then traveled. This Monday, there are only places left between 55 and 120 euros, the cheapest around 30 euros having gone very quickly. The pedigree of the competition, which struggles to make you dream, does not really help either.
Soon the return to the Stade de France
Finally, it seems that there was also a lack of communication on the announcement of the match in Lyon. If the club does not have control over the organization of the match, the marketing or even the advertising, just providing the stadium and the ticket office, it seems that even football fans or OL season ticket holders were not aware that there was a match of the French team tonight at the Groupama Stadium.
So, are the Blues no longer a hit? It is clear that in the last four matches of the French team, the stadiums (Paris, Bordeaux, Metz and Marseille) were not full. The Blues have not played at the Stade de France (76,500 out of 80,000) since June 19, 2023 during a Euro 2024 qualifying match against Greece due to the Dionysian stadium being made available for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. They will return there on November 14 against Israel.
- RMC Sport
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