For a few hours, on the night of Sunday to Monday (12:30 a.m.), millions of pairs of eyes will be trained on the 56th Super Bowl between Cincinnati and Los Angeles. A meeting also very popular in France where American football continues to develop.
The French Federation of American Football (FFFA) is also organizing an evening to watch the event at the Grand Rex in Paris (from 8 p.m.) in order to bring together fans and French athletes.
The opportunity to take stock of the development of this sport in France. At a time when its popularity is growing year after year, French American football still lacks a “Tony Parker of US football” to take its notoriety to the next level, as confided to CNEWS Pierre Trochet, French president of the International Federation of American Football.
Where is the development of American football in France?
Pierre Trochet: We were on a record season with 25,000 licensees in 2018-2019 but we suffered a drop with the two white seasons due to the Covid. However, we are on the return with 18,000 licensees this year.
What influence has the Superbowl had on this craze?
You can feel a real hype around American football. There is a continuous progression over the last five years regarding audiences and social networks. In recent years, the Superbowl has managed to come out of anonymity and clubs organize Superbowl evenings all over France.
TAILGATE PARTY
Only a few days left before the 56th edition of the Super Bowl. The FFFA and @lachainelequipe suitable for all French licensees and fans, from 8 p.m. on February 13 for THE evening of the year, at @LeGrandRex ! #TailgatePartyFFFA #SuperBowl @NFLFrance pic.twitter.com/bTxx78x7q6
– FFFA (@FFFA_officiel) February 10, 2022
Is the strong audience for the Superbowl followed by an increase in licensees?
There is a big difference between the millions of aficionados listed in France and the number of FFFA licensees. Many people watch the matches, adopt the cultural codes of sport and are not licensed practitioners. They will however follow the news on the matches during the finals or those of the France team. We also hope to have unencrypted matches on Sport in France*.
#KICKOFF of the Field. of France Elite this weekend! This is to follow from 7:00 p.m. this Sat 12/02 on @sport_en_france with @pa_75 and @pierretrochet
GAME OF THE WEEK@FlashFUS vs. @panthersthonon
Geo Andre Stadium (93) – 19:00
created @Remi713 pic.twitter.com/Wrq5HXrRLf
– FFFA (@FFFA_officiel) February 11, 2022
It will now be possible to follow matches of the French championship…
It’s the first ! We are going to make 7 matches with Sport in France. The French public will be able to discover that there is US Foot in France. All the kept proportions. It’s not comparable with the NFL and we don’t have Dr. Dre at halftime (laughs).
How can French American football turn a corner?
We found the right recipe but now it takes time. The recipe is there and with the means we have, we can hardly do more. There is also this “Tony Parker of Foot US” effect which has not yet taken place and which is in front of us. We are lucky today to have a hundred French players between Canada and the United States. The paths to the NFL have never been so numerous and every day we get closer to having our standard, our flag bearer of French American football.
Tickets are expensive in the NFLPierre Trochet
At the level of the federation, our job is to arrive in schools, to reach the youngest audiences, in particular via flag football: it is a light version of US Football and without contact, which is played five against five. The objective and that this sport enters the program of the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
American football can have the image of a violent sport. What do you think ?
This aspect, we hear about it in the United States because, there, young people train more and for longer. We don’t have the same problem here because contact only begins at the age of 16. In addition, we have a long-term development with a progressive progression. We pay attention before having problems by doing a lot of educational work with the coaches and in informing the parents.
Why are there no French in the NFL?
We had a player: Richard Tardits in the 1980s, 1990s. He graduated from the University of Georgia and joined the New England Patriots (1990-1992). Since then, we had hopes and some managed to join training teams but none broke through until the regular season. There are only thirty-two teams with rosters of 53 players so places are very expensive. In addition, the coaches are rather conservative in their international openness.
Do you think that one or more French people will soon make their entrance there?
We have a player, Souleymane Karamoko, trained at Flash de la Courneuve, who is in the international recruitment process for the NFL. Other players will spend 4.5 years in the United States in high schools and universities. They’re going to have the same pedigree as an American. The more our athletes perform in the pathways for the professional, the more chances they will have. Also, playing in Canada is less scary for recruiters. The more players we have in these slots, the more likely we will be to see a French drafted in the NFL and thus have the chance to make one, two, three, four seasons. We wish them.
Where is the France team?
She was on a good dynamic with the World Games in 2017 and the European Championship in 2018 (won). The French team suffered a lot from the Covid because we did not have permission from the authorities to continue the French championship. We have a limited number of high-level athletes, so the possibility of access to training structures has been limited to an extreme minority. We were qualified for the semi-finals of the European Championship this year but we had several cases of Covid and we had to cancel our match against Italy. We hope to be on the podium again in 2023. Unfortunately, we won’t be at the World Cup next year in Germany.
*First broadcast of a D1 Elite match, Saturday February 12 (7 p.m.) on Sport in France.
Useful information for the FFFA evening at the Grand Rex
February 13 from 8 p.m., 1 bd Poissonière Paris 2nd. Tickets are on sale here.