PARIS: The French Football Federation on Friday confirmed the country’s two cup finals will be held in July and said it hoped to be allowed to fill 30 per cent of the Stade de France.
“The French Cup final will be held on July 24 and the League Cup final on July 31,” president Noel Le Graet told the FFF general assembly, making official dates that had already been widely known.
The French Cup final between Paris Saint-Germain and Saint-Etienne will be the first official football match in France since the coronavirus pandemic stopped play.
Ligue 1 champions PSG will also play in the League Cup final a week later, facing Lyon.
The French government has set an attendance cap of 5,000 for stadiums, which reopen on July 11 but Le Graet has said several times that he hopes for a bigger crowd at the Stade de France, which holds more than 81,000.
“Five thousand people at the Stade de France, it’s true that it’s a bit short,” he told reporters on Friday. “I’d love to get it up to 30 percent, but I won’t make a crisis out of it if we don’t get it.”
Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu hinted on Thursday that Le Graet could potentially get his wish, depending on the virus situation in France.
“For the time being, we are sticking to the 5,000-person limit because it does not only concern sport but also large cultural gatherings in public spaces,” she said.
“There’s a review on July 11th so we'll see what happens according to the epidemic curve in France.” – AFP
