From Lyon City Hall, Hervé Renard listed the 24 players selected for the semi-final of the Nations League. Les Bleues welcome Germany on Friday February 23 at Groupama Stadium in Lyon. They will then play the final or third place match either in Spain or the Netherlands on Wednesday February 28.
Lyon striker Delphine Cascarino, injured in May (ruptured cruciate ligaments in her right knee), is back. The other in-form woman on the list is PSG striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto, who has scored 14 goals and three assists since November. On the other hand, the French team will have to do without its captain, Wendie Renard (155 caps), injured in the thigh since the end of 2023. The largest contingent of players comes from PSG (7), ahead of Olympique Lyonnais (6).
Less than six months before the Olympics
France, which finished the group stage of the Nations League undefeated (5 wins, 1 draw), will have a good card to play against Germany. Long considered a reference in Europe, with its titles of double world champion and eight-time European champion, Die Nationalelf has been in crisis for several months.
Absent from the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, the Germans, finalists of Euro 2022 after beating the Blues, were eliminated during the first round of the last World Cup, in Australia and New Zealand, in August 2023. Hervé Renard, the “VRP” of the French team, as he considers himself, encouraged spectators to come in large numbers to watch the match.
This first women’s edition of the League of Nations is an opportunity for the French team to add a first line to its list of achievements, less than six months before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The competition is a qualifier for the next Olympic Games: two tickets will be awarded to the finalist teams or, if France reaches this stage, to its opponent and to the selection which will win the match for third place, since France is already qualified as host country.
The full list:
Goalkeepers: Solène Durand, Pauline Peyraud-Magnin (no. 1), Constance Picaud
Defenders: Selma Bacha, Estelle Cascarino, Elisa De Almeida, Sakina Karchaoui, Maelle Lakrar, Griedge Mbock Pathy, Eve Perisset, Thiniba Samoura.
Midfielders: Kenza Dali, Grace Geyoro, Amandine Henry, Leah Le Garrec, Amel Majri and Sandie Toletti.
Forwards: Sandy Baltimore, Kadidiatou Diani, Julie Dufour, Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Eugénie Le Sommer, Clara Mateo, Delphine Cascarino.
