Romain Rouillard
modified to
9:48 p.m., April 06, 2023
Exceptional guest of Europe 1 Sport this Thursday, the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra spoke of the Women’s Euro 2025, finally won by Switzerland while France had applied. According to her, the unfortunate events at the Stade de France last June did not dampen France’s chances in this case.
Did France lose the organization of the Women’s Euro 2025 because of the incidents that marred the Champions League final last May at the Stade de France? This Tuesday, it is Switzerland which has obtained the favors of UEFA and which will organize the tournament while France had applied. Some then wondered about the role that the Stade de France fiasco could have played in this non-attribution. On May 28, on the sidelines of the Liverpool-Real Madrid match, these scenes of chaos, linked to a difficult management of the flow of people around the enclosure, went around the world and cast shame on the ability of France to host this type of event.
“Switzerland had a good candidacy”
But for the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, exceptional guest ofEurope 1 Sports this Thursday, this sad episode played no role in UEFA’s decision to entrust the Women’s Euro 2025 to Switzerland. At the microphone of Jacques Vendroux and Céline Géraud, she preferred to recognize the French defeat on this issue. “I think we also have the right to say that Switzerland had a good candidacy. And that the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland were also candidates) had come up with some interesting concepts”.
Amélie Oudéa-Castéra also highlighted the election of Philippe Diallo, interim president of the FFF, to the UEFA executive committee. Proof according to her that France “is not persona non grata in the bodies of UEFA”, including since this famous final of the Champions League. “We have a perfectly healthy and fluid collaboration and dialogue with these authorities. So let’s not dramatize the situation,” she continued.
“Switzerland will organize it but we will win it”
On Europe 1, the Minister of Sports also assured that the government had “learned all the lessons” from these incidents. “We are at work so that such a difficulty does not happen again,” she certified while reiterating her congratulations to Switzerland. Even going so far as to predict the outcome of the tournament: “Certainly, Switzerland will organize it, but we are the ones who will win it”.
In the meantime, France has its eyes riveted on one of the greatest sporting events in its history: the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This Thursday, General Thierry Burkhard, Chief of the Defense Staff declared that 10,000 soldiers could be made available to secure the various sites and did not rule out an “exceptional contribution”. For its part, the Ministry of the Interior already plans to mobilize 35,000 internal security forces.