The French government will be represented in Qatar from the start of the competition.
According to the cabinet of the Ministry of the Interior, the President of the Republic has chosen to send Gérald Darmanin to the opening ceremony of the 2022 World Cup, on Sunday November 20 in Doha.
This ceremony will precede the kick off of the first match of the tournament between the host country and Ecuador.
The Minister of the Interior will thus attend the opening of the last major sporting event before the Rugby World Cup and the Olympic and Paralympic Games that France will organize respectively in 2023 and 2024. He will visit, on this occasion, to the French gendarmes and police officers deployed in Qatar in order to contribute to the security of this world event.
World Cup in Qatar: "We must not politicize sport", says Macron
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Gérald Darmanin will not be the only French statesman to travel to the Middle East during the World Cup.
Emmanuel Macron had announced that he would make the trip if the French team qualified for the semi-finals of the tournament and, in the event of victory, in the final.
The Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games Amélie Oudéa-Castéra hopes to go to Qatar "if the team advances".
“I still allow myself a little flexibility, but yes if we are at the quarter-final level at some point, it is an important step, and the role of a Minister of Sports is to be at the sides of the team,” she said on Franceinfo radio on November 10.
