The French national football team, crowned the FIFA World Cup for the second time in its history, celebrated the title in front of hundreds of thousands of its fans today (Monday) on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, and was then received by President Manuel Macron in the Elysee.
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered hours ago on "the most beautiful avenue in the world" to welcome the world champions, who boarded an open-top bus and made their way through the crowds.
The plane carrying the French national team landed at the main airport near Paris, and the captain of the team, goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, and coach Didier Deschamps, were the first to leave the plane, as he lifted the famous golden cup before heading to the stairs and then to the red carpet.
Yesterday (Sunday) France was crowned World Cup champion for the second time in its history, after defeating Croatia 4-2 in the final match in Moscow.
The "Roosters" were crowned for the first time at home in 1998, when they defeated Brazil 3-0 in the final.
And the players of the French national team will receive the Medal of Honor because of the "extraordinary services" they provided to the country, as happened with the players of the French national team after winning the World Cup for the first time in 1998. But the Elysee Palace confirmed that the delivery of these medals will take place after several months.
Macron and his wife Brigitte received the team’s delegation at the Elysee Palace, where about 3,000 people were invited to attend the ceremony in the gardens of the presidential residence, including many young people from football clubs in the world, including Bondy, where the current national team star, Kylian Mbappe, started.
The players returned home carrying the 6,175 kg gold cup, of which 4.9 kg was pure gold, in scenes reminiscent of the celebrations of Zinedine Zidane and his teammates with the same cup in July 1998.
After the celebration in the torrential rain of the Luzhniki Stadium, the jewel in the crown of the 12 Russian stadiums that have hosted the World Cup since June 14, the French celebration is expected to be under the bright sun of the French capital, whose streets, from the Champs-Elysées to the Champs-de-Mars and the vicinity of the Arc de Triomphe, were filled with tens of thousands of people. The French who danced to the beat of victory.
Celebrating with the fans has a different taste, according to what the players themselves confirmed after they were able to draw the second star on their blue shirt.
Defender Lucas Hernandez said after the victory on Sunday, "We still do not realize what we have achieved, it is very big, when we get to Paris, I think we will all realize what we did. I want to celebrate with all the French."
He added, "I only hope for one thing, which is to reach Paris and see these people on the street and shout 'Long live France'", while his teammate Corentin Tolisso considered that winning the title "was a dream, a child's dream. We are very, very proud, like all French, who are on Boulevard "The Champs-Elysées, in Lyon, everywhere. We can't wait to see them celebrate. We are the champions of the world."
Across French cities, the title celebrations overshadowed everything else since Argentine referee Nestor Pitana blew the final whistle, and the French national team achieved a huge victory over small Croatia, which was hoping for the first title in its history, after reaching the final for the first time as well.
The streets of Paris and other French cities, in addition to cafes and balconies, were filled with revelers to the sound of car horns and firecrackers and chants of "We won! We won!", and "(We are) champions, world champions!"
The most prominent of the celebrants in the streets was the young French generation who did not experience the joy of the 1998 World Cup themselves, and did not see the faces of Deschamps, Zidane and others drawn on the Arc de Triomphe, which was repeated Sunday with the faces of Kylian Mbappe, who was chosen as the best young player in the tournament, Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba and their colleagues.
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AFP (Paris)