In the absence of the sand yacht, the Blues will take the train in the future. In any case, more often than in the past. As part of the presentation of its development plan, this Thursday, in Paris, the French Football Federation (FFF) unveils an “energy sobriety plan” aimed at reducing its consumption by 50%. In addition to “raising awareness” of young graduates “to climate issues”, the “research and development of innovative solutions for sustainable development” and the signing of the “charter of 15 eco-responsible commitments with the Ministry of Sports and WWF France”, the “3F” also and above all intends to favor the train over the plane as often as possible. A habit for ordinary mortals, a revolution for the Blues.
Clearly, Kylian Mbappé and company will now systematically use rail for trips of less than three hours. Concretely, this will be the case in March (Lyon) and June (Bordeaux and Metz) but not during the November gathering, with matches planned in Nice and Athens. A rule that will apply to the Blues, but also to all other selections. As far as FFF employees are concerned, the bar is set at five hours.
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Concerning the big Blues, this will however require some adjustments. President Diallo does not hide it, he who faced the press and his Executive Committee on Thursday, at the FFF headquarters. “You can imagine that we are aware of the particular difficulty of the French A men’s team. We have already started to implement it with the women’s and Espoirs, who have already done it. I asked the FFF services how we can do it. Respecting sporting requirements, travel time, recovery and safety. There are also questions relating to the comfort of other passengers: if tomorrow the Blues are at Gare de Lyon, there will be groupings and the trains will not leave on time,” he slips.
He continued: “It will start in March. We gave ourselves time with the FFF, the public authorities, to study all the facets of the French A men’s team. I spoke about it with Didier Deschamps. Our objective is clear: to ensure that all the conditions are met in order to be able to travel by train. Given the light that the France A football team is gaining, it is appropriate that it flood the rest of the French teams, that it serves as an example. I will see you in March, under conditions that we will have completely settled by then.”
