The French footballers will challenge Germany on March 23 in Lyon and Chile on March 26 in Marseille. Two trips where they could (should?) have used the rails.
The ‘sand hunt’ has left its mark. In September 2022, Christophe Galtier, the then coach of PSG footballers, was the author of this ironic formula, to answer a question about the ecological footprint of professional sports teams. “We have spoken to the company that organizes our trips, we are looking into whether we can travel by sand yacht. That’s all,” said the former TFC (1990-1993).
Since then, the issue of energetic sobriety has regularly been at the forefront of club news, but also of national selections. For example, President of the Federation Philippe Diallo, on the side of the French football team, recently committed himself to The Blues to travel by train, for journeys of less than 3 hours.
However, for the next two trips of Kylian Mbappé and his teammates, to Lyon (Germany, March 23) and then Marseille (Chile, March 26), this promise will not be kept. The French travel by private jet. What are the reasons?
The president explained it to the newspaper The team. According to him, the measure can only be applied at the expense of two unwavering conditions: “When I outlined the prospect of traveling by train for these two meetings, I indicated that two imperatives had to be respected: the player’s recovery time and safety .”
The SNCF “surprises”
And the boss of the FFF continued, also raising a safety argument: “We have collaborated with the SNCF. However, we have not found an optimal formula based on these two elements. (…) “We had a relationship with the SNCF and the police and it turned out to be complicated from a security point of view to disembark with the French team at Saint-Charles station. “I have decided, in consultation with the staff of the French team and the players, to postpone the execution of this train journey.”
A justification that was not really appreciated by the SNCF, which said it was ‘surprised’ and wanted to respond, always to The team : “Everything is done to ensure the safety of these trips and to propose schedules adapted to the constraints of the French team. Several proposals for safety visits have also been made to confirm the feasibility of these trips. As a reminder: SNCF Voyageurs transported almost all of last year’s Rugby World Cup teams, regularly transports the French Rugby XV and will transport many teams during the next Paris 2024 Games.
The Blues can travel by train for the first time next June for a trip to Metz.