France team Paris celebrations attended by 50,000 fans
Despite their World Cup final defeat to Argentina, the French national team appeared before their fans in central Paris on Monday night to celebrate a run which saw them come within inches of defending their title.
A 50,000-strong crowd was in attendance on the Place de la Concorde, at the end of the Champs-Élysées they would have paraded through had they won – as Les Bleus turned out on the balcony of the Hôtel de Crillon.
The event had been the subject of a contradiction at the highest levels of French football that morning though, with FFF president Noël Le Graët having told the media that the players were in no mood to go celebrate and wanted to return home, while Minister for Spots Amélie Oudéa-Castéra insisted that the event was in fact going ahead.
With the FFF confirming the appearance midway through the day, the reality is somewhere down the middle, as L’Équipe report. Several French players were indeed reticent on the idea earlier in the day but were then convinced. The event was said to be pushed for, but not imposed by, several politicians – president Emmanuel Macron at the very top, insisting for it – hoping for the fans to have a chance to congratulate Les Bleus on their run.
