the ambitions of Little Thumb Espaly, who challenges the ogre PSG

It is an amateur club like there are thousands in France. FC Espaly, a club from a small village in Haute-Loire with 3,500 inhabitants and resident of National 3 (fifth division), is preparing to challenge Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday January 15 at 9:00 p.m. in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France at the Stade Marcel-Michelin in Clermont-Ferrand. An exceptional meeting prepared with seriousness by a club unaccustomed to this type of match. Still at departmental level at the start of the 2010 decade, the club slowly but surely climbed the ladder to finally move up to National 3 at the end of the 2022-2023 season. Despite this progress, Espaly had never achieved an epic success in the oldest French sporting competition.

When the club started its adventure, that is to say in the 3rd round of the competition in the middle of last September, the ambition was not to go that far. “We didn't aim to go to 16th grade but…