The French teams of Thierry Henry for the men and Hervé Renard for the women now know their first opponents for the Paris 2024 Olympics after the draw carried out on Wednesday March 20, in Saint-Denis.
2 mins
For Thierry Henry, men’s coach, in the midst of building his group, the draw made it possible to finally look forward to July 24, the start date of the men’s tournament.
But the Olympic Games 2024 not being part of the Fifa dates, the clubs are not obliged to release their players for the football tournament and none of the coaches know today precisely which group they will be able to count on in July.
The Blues will begin their Olympic Games against the United States on July 24 for the opening of the competition in Marseille. Then it will be either Guinea or an Asian country depending on the results of an intercontinental play-off which will take place in the coming weeks. The meeting is planned in Nice. New Zealand will be France’s last opponent, on July 30 in Marseille. “ We will prepare as best as possible, we will have to get out of this group before planning for the quarter-finals. We will start studying our two known adversaries », comments Thierry Henry.
During the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, France did not shine, the men were eliminated in the first round and the women did not qualify. “ It’s not easy to play at home », Launched Arsène Wenger, former Arsenal coach, who had Thierry Henry under his command. France has won the Olympic tournament only once in 1984 in Los Angeles.
Les Bleues will avoid Germany, but will face Canada and Australia
Hervé Renard’s women know much better than the men on which foot to dance. Indeed, their tournament is not limited to a particular age category.
On July 25, the Blues will face the Colombians in Lyon. The French will face Canada for their second meeting, gold medal in Tokyo, on July 28 for their second match in Saint-Etienne. They finish the group stage like the men against New Zealand on July 31 in Lyon. “ Colombia had a great World Cup, like New Zealand. We will have to focus on this first round, the meetings do not promise to be easy », says Hervé Renard. The Blues will avoid their best German enemies.
In 2012 in London, the Blues finished in fourth place after being beaten by the Canadians for the bronze medal.
Reactions from the coaches of the French teams
Hervé Renard’s reaction: “ The Olympics are an exceptional moment for French women’s football. I’m not going to comment too much on this draw, because you have to respect your opponents. It’s always easy to give notes, to cite favorites, but it rarely happens as we decided. We still have the Canadians, reigning world champions, and the Colombians who had a great World Cup. Either way, we will have to face the best teams to go as far as possible. It is a great honor for me to be at the head of a French team which will play in the Olympics. We hope to get a medal. »
Thierry Henry’s reaction: “ We know who we are going to play against and we will be able to work by organizing friendly matches. We are missing a team in this group and we will see, but there are already two nations that we can study. This evening, it starts to become concrete. The road will be long, we can see a little more of the work that remains to be done, but we will have to be wary of the South Americans. They have a thing with the Olympic Games. »
Read alsoCAN U23: Morocco and Egypt in the final and qualified for the Paris Olympics