On Monday January 22, Didier Deschamps, accompanied by some of his staff, visited the Best Western hotel in Bad Lippspringe, a small town chosen as the Blues' base camp for Euro 2024 in Germany (June 14 - July 14th).
Located in the district of Paderborn, where the world vice-champions will train, this spa town of 16,000 inhabitants should offer a peaceful setting to the French selection.
Other locations will also take place soon.
The 23 internationals selected by the coach will take up residence there on June 12, in accordance with the regulations, five days before their entry into the competition on June 17 against Austria in Düsseldorf (9 p.m.).
Their program, between now and this date, is taking shape little by little.
It was further refined during the traditional staff seminar organized from February 5 to 7 in Clairefontaine.
Objective of these three days: to maintain cohesion and discuss, in detail, the organization of upcoming meetings.
And in particular the Euro.
The President of the FFF, Philippe Diallo, joined the staff on Monday afternoon to discuss the organization of the Euro and reiterate his support for the French team.
“His presence among us was appreciated by all the staff before the deadlines that await us,” indicates Didier Deschamps.
I attach a lot of importance to this seminar.
It is a moment of exchange where we can take the time to study all the issues that will arise, each in their field of action, with attention to detail and the desire to be perfectly united and united.
Our experience must serve us.
But we must also adapt to each new context.
You cannot copy and paste from one competition to another.
»
Also read Euro 2024: on what days and at what time will the Blues play?
This seminar also allowed the national coach to discuss with his staff the ambient enthusiasm and the risks that they can generate.
He constantly warned against any excess of confidence which could prove detrimental in such a dense competition (8 nations among the 10 in the FIFA rankings).
“The French team benefits from very strong popular support.
This is very appreciable, underlines the Basque technician.
The wait is huge, too.
We are one of the favorites for the next Euro.
Internally, we have the necessary ambition and determination, which does not prevent us from wanting to do things in order and being well aware that we will already have to perform well from the group stage.
»
Some things have already been done.
Starting with the first two preparatory matches against Germany and Chile, respectively on March 23 and 26 in Lyon, then Marseille.
The list for these two meetings will be made public on Thursday March 14.
Two months later, probably on May 15 or 16, as announced on our site, on October 14, Deschamps will very likely reveal his list of 23 at 8 p.m. on TF1.
This will undoubtedly also include reservists.
Read alsoEuro 2024: “It’s user-friendly and functional”… we visited the Blues base camp with Didier Deschamps
The Blues not affected by the Champions League final, scheduled for June 1 at Wembley, will then meet at Clairefontaine on May 27.
Two other friendly confrontations will be held in Metz on Wednesday June 5 and in Bordeaux on Sunday June 9, each time returning to Clairefontaine.
For the moment, the identity of the opponents is not known.
The FFF is awaiting, in particular, the result of the qualifying play-offs for the Euro (March 21 and 26) to move forward in these negotiations with its foreign counterparts.
The eliminated nations could thus offer potential and additional opponents to the world vice-champions.
As a reminder, in addition to Austria, Kylian Mbappé's partners will be opposed in the first round of the European Championship in the Netherlands on Friday June 21 in Leipzig, then against a nation from the play-offs (Poland, Estonia, Wales or Finland) on Tuesday June 25 in Dortmund.
Furthermore, this Thursday, February 8, they will know their opponents for the group stage of the next Nations League.
The draw for this event, won by France in 2021, takes place in Paris as part of the 48th Ordinary UEFA Congress.
Didier Deschamps will go there accompanied by his deputy Guy Stephan.
The matches will be played in the fall of 2024, when the final phase should take place in June 2025. League A will be made up of four hats.
France will appear in the 3rd alongside Switzerland, Poland and Germany.
Each selection will have to play six matches, one at home and one away against the three other teams in the group.