“If the Federation continues the competition without amateur clubs, it should no longer call it the“ Coupe de France ”. “ Asked by The world Thursday 14 January, Damien Ogier, defender and captain of FC Limonest (National 3, the equivalent of the 5e Division), was the concern of the amateur world about the fate of this Coupe de France 2020-2021 stopped since the beginning of November and the second confinement, imposed just before the 6e round of competition.
Surprise eighth-finalist of the last edition, the Lyon metropolitan club learned the good news on Tuesday. Damien Ogier and his partners will be able to play their 6e round against Olympique Salaise Rhodia (Regional 1).
The government has in fact given the green light to resume training as soon as ” this week “ for amateur football clubs still competing in the Coupe de France, the ministry for sports announced in a press release on Tuesday. “Collective training after a mandatory PCR test for all players, with a view to a resumption on January 30 and 31, 2021”, specifies the ministry.
In a separate statement, the French Football Federation (FFF) announced that matches scheduled for these dates would count for the 6e round as well as the last three meetings of the fifth.
In December, given the health context, the body chaired by Noël Le Graët had validated a new format for the competition, with two parallel tournaments: one for amateur clubs, the other for professional clubs, up to and including round of 16 scheduled for March 6 and 7.
Faced with a health situation which disrupts the progress of the Men’s French Cup and the French Cup … https://t.co/Jc0z8hWglG
To preserve its more than centenary ” Old lady “, never interrupted, even during the Second World War, the FFF set up “A strict and binding health protocol”, in his own words, which the government validated on Tuesday.
The authorization given by the executive comes on the same day that the Ligue 2 teams start in the event, Tuesday, at 8e round, prelude to the entry into contention of the Ligue 1 formations on February 9 and 10 in 32es of finals.
In the event that they were not allowed to return to training, fans feared seeing the pros ending the competition between themselves in what would have looked like an ersatz League Cup.
Mandatory PCR tests, in camera and games before curfew
Officially, such a solution has never been considered on the side of the FFF. Still, the prolonged interruption of the activity of amateur clubs, brought to play nine rounds before finding those of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 in the round of 16, posed scheduling problems in an already busy sporting year.
The federation also warned Tuesday that “If a team is unable to participate in [une] encounter due to the isolation of all or part of its workforce or for lack of tests, it will be eliminated by default ”.
The FFF specified that the matches would be scheduled in the early afternoon in order to respect the curfew set at 6 p.m. and would take place behind closed doors. Mandatory PCR tests will be performed “Two to three days” before the meetings, and antigen tests are scheduled on the same days.
If training was officially suspended, except for players with federal contracts, as is sometimes the case in National 2 or National 3, the amateurs had not quite put away their crampons.
Before the announcement of this resumption, several club presidents had confided to the World the maintenance of sessions by coping with the curfew at 6 p.m. or 8 p.m. and the professional activity of their players.
“We still manage to train during the week from 6 pm to 7:30 pm, otherwise we train on Sunday instead of the usual match”, explained Pascal Barbier, president of the US Creveur-le-Grand, district club in the Oise and “petit poucet” of 6e tower.
“Even if the last match dates back to the end of October, continued the leader, my players are living an exceptional adventure. So they don’t think too much about the lack of preparation. In their heads, they are already ready. “
And they are not alone. They are still 249 clubs engaged, 249 to dream of crossing the road of PSG, Marseille or Lyon in 16es final. It is also necessary that the health situation does not call everything into question by the beginning of March.
