A Michel Hidalgo space, named after the 1984 European champion coach, was officially inaugurated on Tuesday at the Clairefontaine French team training center. “It was a solemn moment,” for current coach Didier Deschamps. “We must pay tribute to him for all he has done. If today we have very high-level infrastructures at our disposal, it is thanks to men like Michel Hidalgo”.
Also present at the ceremony, the new Espoirs coach Thierry Henry, who knew Clairefontaine when he was a teenager, “did not have the opportunity to discuss with” Hidalgo, “but he was more than a reference for me, he transcended me, he was France who won, I was about to be 7 years old, (1984) it’s my first tournament, my first emotions”.
“The Île-de-France region has participated up to 30% in the financing of 5 million euros for this space”, recalled its president Valérie Pécresse. This space has been in operation for about a year, Tuesday was the official inauguration, in the presence of Monique Hidalgo, the widow of the former technician, who died on March 26, 2020. A stele with a bust has its effigy was unveiled.