“Calais, an affordable match”

The captain of the French beach Soccer team and central defender of Le Touquet (R3) recounts his memories of the Coupe de France before hosting Calais (N3), Saturday November 30 in the 8th round.

“How do you go from captain of the Blues in qualifying for the Beach Soccer World Cup to Regional 3 and Coupe de France matches?
The return to reality is often a little difficult when you come back from the French team, where you live like in a dream. But the football enthusiast speaks, we are ready to adapt to all situations, we are happy to be on any pitch to play football. Here, we are in the slow period for beach soccer, which allows me to focus on eleven-a-side football and to be 100% invested with Le Touquet. But when the beach resumes, it’s never easy to respond fully to each match. And then, between playing barefoot and putting them back in crampons, we’re really on two opposite sides. But it’s so complementary to football that it’s a real pleasure to make the transition. The sand brings a real physical advantage: when I arrive at the start of football in the middle of the beach season, you have this feeling of flying. And everything that is hit with a ball, with the technical level that sand requires, it’s pleasant to find it on grass.

In demonstration (white jersey) with the French beach soccer team last summer at Club France during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (photo DR).

Why did you join Le Touquet ACFCO in the off-season?
I had spent all my years as a footballer at AS Étaples before going to Calais Beau-Marais, in July 2023. I had an incredible adventure there, last season (concluded with the club’s first rise to Regional 1) and I would have stayed there if I didn’t have the constraints of the road to get there. We are also a group of five-six friends who have always played together and it was the time to get together, in a club which has a very good sporting project, even if it went down to R3 last season. Le Touquet has a structure, a new president (Sébastien Boyard, since August 2023) and the ambitions of finding a team at the highest level and rebuilding at youth level. The big objective of the season is to climb the league but this week, the club is entirely focused on the Coupe de France. Since last Sunday, we can even say that the club and the city live for the Cup.

We win 23-1, which is indeed anything but the result of a football match.

Your journey started in September, in the 2nd round, with a rare score against Maresquel…
We win 23-1, which is indeed anything but the result of a football match. It’s even more improbable that we were down 1-0 in the 2nd minute… But there was a big difference in level (Departmental 5 for AS Maresquel)I think they were not physically ready and we put all the ingredients in place, we respected the opponent and football by playing our game until the end, which allowed us to score so much . This is also the beauty of the Cup. We have always seen plenty of exploits of all kinds in the Coupe de France, that’s what makes it so charming.

Third from the left when Le Touquet ACFCO took over last August (photo Le Touquet ACFCO).

What is your experience in this competition?
I have already played the 7th round twice with Étaples, each time with the chance to meet a Ligue 2 (0-2 defeats against Valenciennes FC, in 2016, and 0-3 against Quevilly Rouen Métropole, in 2021), I also played the 6th round three times, including two against US Boulogne CO and USL Dunkerque, who were in the National. My first 7th round remains a great moment but this participation in the 8th round is my best memory. I had never passed the threshold. And who knows next? On paper, this match against Calais is affordable.

We are ready to respond and see the 32nd finals.

The name of Calais belongs to the history of the Coupe de France, even if it is no longer the same club today…
I was four years old during the Calais RUFC epic, in 2000 (final lost 2-1 against FC Nantes), but people have talked to me about it so much and we still talk about it so much that it remains very present in us. I never met today’s Calaisiens when I was at Calais Beau-Marais but I know them well, I have followed the rapid evolution of the club since its creation (in June 2023, by merger of Grand Calais Pascal FC and Calais FCHF). We can fear their individualities when we see their recruitment again this year. These are all players with big CVs including Claudio Beauvue (winner of the 2014 Coupe de France with EA Guingamp)a striker to follow closely with all his experience and his great career. But we also showed that we were capable of eliminating an N3 (Olympique Saint-Quentinois in the 6th round) and an R1 (the FCPP of Amiens in the 7th) at home. We are ready to respond and see the 32nd finals. »

After qualifying in the 7th round in front of FCPP Amiens (photo Le Touquet ACFCO).

The 8th round in 8 points