Will the 2024 Olympics be the equivalent of Euro 1984 for the Blues? If they want to break – like their male predecessors forty years ago in France – the curse of a desperately empty prize list, on August 10, at the Parc des Princes, in the Olympic final, the French players will have to get rid of the crème de la crème of women’s football. Unlike the men’s tournament, there are no age limits for constituting the selected lists.
Twelve teams, divided into three groups, participate in the tournament which takes place in seven cities (Lyon, Nantes, Marseille, Saint-Etienne, Paris, Nice and Bordeaux). Among them, two are not yet known but will be known at the beginning of April, after the Nigeria-South Africa and Morocco-Zambia dams.
Beneficiary of a ticket allocated to the host country, France was automatically placed in group A. Wednesday March 20, in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), the draw – three teams divided into four pots , with the instruction to avoid as much as possible matches between representatives of the same confederation in the first round – has designated the first three opponents of the French team this summer: Canada, Colombia and New Zealand.
Canada’s pet peeve
It was held at the Paris 2024 headquarters in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis). Two speakers carried out the draw: the Canadian 2021 Olympic champion, Stéphanie Labbé, and the former Ivorian footballer, Didier Drogba.
When the presenter of France 3, Fabien Lévêque, speaks to Hervé Renard about a possible Olympic coronation in the introduction to the ceremony, the Bleues coach tempers: “You are setting the bar very, very high. The best place [JO and World Cup] is fourth in women’s football, he recalled. At the Olympics, we represent the French team as a whole. We must go get this medal for the entire delegation. »
Captain Wendie Renard’s teammates will therefore play their first match on July 25, in Décines-Charpieu (Rhône), against Colombia. They will continue on July 28, in Saint-Etienne, against the Canadians. And will finish the final phase, again in the suburbs of Lyon, on July 31, against the New Zealanders.
Les Bleues, who are preparing to compete in their third Olympic tournament, find their Canadian bête noire. For their first participation, they reached the semi-finals in London in 2012, losing for the bronze medal against Canada. In 2016 in Rio, the adventure ended in the quarter-final, also against Canada.
As for Colombia, it is a team in full progress, qualified for the quarter-finals of the last 2023 World Cup in first position in its group, ahead of Morocco and Germany. Trailing 2-0 in a warm-up match in April 2023, the French overturned the score to win 5-2.
“Very high level”
France and New Zealand had already faced each other during the 2016 Olympics. The French won 3-0 in the group match. The New Zealanders were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 2012 Olympics. “It’s a very high level when you see all the qualified teams,” reacted Hervé Renard. We know Colombia well having played them in a friendly during my first match. Canada is the reigning Olympic champion. New Zealand caused a surprise by beating Norway in the first round of the World Cup. »
“We want at least to be on the podium,” says Philippe Diallo, the president of the French Football Federation. But as we are at home, a hundred years after the last Olympics in France, and we have two very competitive teams, we must be ambitious. And if possible go and win gold like forty years ago. »
The first two teams from the three groups will go directly to the quarter-finals, as will the two best third-placed teams, i.e. two-thirds of those entering the first round. In pot number 1 with France, the two favorites of the competition – the United States and the Spaniards, who won the last two world championship titles, will appear respectively in group B (with Germany, the Australia and Morocco or Zambia) and Group C (with Japan, Brazil and Nigeria or South Africa).
Women’s football was included in the Olympic program at the Atlanta Olympic Games (United States) in 1996. And the Americans have long made it their preserve, four gold medals in seven editions, even if they have not have not been crowned since 2012. The title holders are the Canadians, winners in Japan over the Swedes, not present in France.
France Télévisions consultant, Louisa Necib, international between 2005 and 2016, experienced the first two Olympic tournaments with the Tricolores: “Without success. I wish just the opposite to this French team, that they bring us the most beautiful medals. »
“For women, it’s a bit like the World Cup”
Director of global football development, Arsène Wenger recalled the difficulty of the women’s tournament: “For women, it’s a bit like the World Cup. There will be all the best teams. We saw a very good competition and a magnificent final last year [in Australia, 2023 World Cup]. » For example, reigning European champion and vice-world champion, England did not qualify.
Since the induction of Hervé Renard at the start of last year, the France team reached the quarter-finals of the 2023 World Cup, eliminated by the host country Australia. Then she played in the Nations League final, where she was taught a lesson by the formidable Spain on February 28 in Seville (2-0).
“I also have compassion for the two accomplices. It’s not easy to play at home while being favorites,” said Arsène Wenger to Thierry Henry, coach of the Blues and Hervé Renard. The latter hopes to overcome this pitfall at the head of the Bleues.