Alexandre Dalifard
From March 21 to 23, the Variétés club de France, an association that brings together former professional footballers and media personalities, will be on a pilgrimage to Rome. During their trip, the VCF will meet Pope Francis before facing Fratelli Tutti, a team made up of priests and seminarians.
The Variétés club de France soon in Rome for a gala match. This team, made up of former professional footballers, will make a pilgrimage to the Eternal City from March 21 to 23. Before facing Fratelli Tutti, a team made up of 18 priests and seminarians, at the Stadio Dei Marmi on Wednesday March 22 at 4:30 p.m., the Variétés club de France will first be received by Pope Francis in the morning. This pilgrimage was initiated by Monsignor Emmanuel Gobillard, Bishop of Digne, in the Alpes de Haute-Provence.
In 9 days, the @VarietesCF will fly to Rome for a pilgrimage that will take around 100 people to meet Pope Francis.
⚽️ There will also be a match against , a team made up of 18 priests and seminarians.
The VCF group pic.twitter.com/IpZvkuUYeb— Varieties CF (@VarietesCF) March 12, 2023
The 100-person delegation will be led by Karl Olive, mayor of Poissy and new president of the Variétés Club de France since last November, and Jacques Vendroux, general manager of the team and journalist for Europe 1 on the program Europe 1 Sports.
Priests facing world champions
For this charity meeting, several players from the Variétés club de France will be headliners. Indeed, two 1998 world champions will tread the lawn of the Stadio Dei Marmi: Christian Karembeu and Robert Pirès. But these two names will not be the only ones to attract attention. Arsène Wenger, legend of the London club Arsenal or Jean-Michel Larqué, legendary player of AS Saint-Étienne in the 1970s, will do the honor of being present. In addition, Wilfrid Mbappé, father of number 10 of the France team Kylian Mbappé, will also be there. This meeting will be refereed by Patrick Lhermitte.
Created in 1971, the association has played 2,432 matches during which 5.6 million euros were raised and then donated to charity. In October 2021, the President Emmanuel Macron himself had donned the sky blue jersey of the Variétés Club de France in front of a team of caregivers for the benefit of the Hospital Foundation.