Fritz Walter’s former club on the road
The strangest competitive game in the world awaits Thionville
November 17, 2023, 7:12 p.m
Around the world: The French fifth division team Thionville will compete in the cup on Saturday – 16,315 kilometers away in New Caledonia. The trip started on Monday. Club boss Francois Ventrici is happy that all players can be there and thanks their employers for that.
White beaches, red deserts and the largest reef in the world: But the French fifth division team US Thionville has no time for the beauties of New Caledonia at the weekend. For Fritz Walter’s former club, one of the strangest competitive games in the football world is coming up: In the seventh round of the cup, Thionville will play in Hienghene – a mere 16,315 kilometers from home.
“It won’t be a vacation – we want to get to the next round,” says coach Julien Francois. The trip started on Monday; New Caledonia is located 1,300 kilometers east of Australia near Vanuatu. 16 field players and two goalkeepers traveled to Paris by TGV, from there they took a plane to Singapore and on to Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia.
Thionville makes the 32,630 kilometer trip voluntarily
“Fortunately, all employers played along and gave the players permission,” club boss Francois Ventrici told the newspaper “Le Republicain Lorrain”. Mammoth trips like the one in Thionville happen again and again, because the cup also has its own rules in France: Since 1961, the overseas departments, the “Territoires d’outre-mer”, have been allowed to take part in the Coup de France.
Thionville is making the 32,630 kilometer trip voluntarily: 15 clubs agreed to a possible trip around the world before the draw, and the club based near Saarland was drawn. To ensure that the club, which was founded in 1905 as FC Diedenhofen and for which future world champion Fritz Walter also played in 1943, does not go bankrupt, the association is covering the costs.
Favourite? Rather not …
The travel group was welcomed after 25 hours of flight in summer temperatures of 30 degrees, and the team had to quickly acclimatize before the game on Saturday. Theoretically, trips to Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique or Tahiti would also have been possible. FC Trelissac also played in New Caledonia in 2014, 17,142 kilometers from their own stadium – a world record for a national competitive game.
Thionville is only a partial favorite on Saturday (3 p.m. local time, 5 a.m. on the mainland): Hienghene won the Oceanic Champions League in 2019 and took part in the FIFA Club World Cup. “The fact that we are playing here in New Caledonia is already a victory for us,” says President Karl Fisdiepas.
Thionville doesn’t have time for sightseeing after the game; the team wants to be back home the following Wednesday. Finally, four days later, the away game awaits with the second team from ES Troyes AC, a mere 250 kilometers away. Almost a stone’s throw.