Football: the Bleux with Gignac, Camavinga and Thauvin at the Tokyo Olympics

Published on : 06/25/2021 – 4:30 PM

The coach of the France Olympic football team, Sylvain Ripoll, has retained 18 players and a reservist for the Tokyo Olympics tournament. On this list presented on Friday June 25 appear the names of André-Pierre Gignac, Florian Thauvin and Eduardo Camavinga.

Confronted with the reluctance of certain clubs to release their players, Sylvain Ripoll had difficulty composing his list which, in the end, looks good, with also the Lyonnais Maxence Caqueret, the Lillois Jonathan Ikoné or the Monegasque Benoît Badiashile.

While he had the right to select four reservists in addition to the 18 players on the list, Ripoll retained only one, Sochaux goalkeeper Maxence Prévot.

Four players who have played with the A’s

Its list includes several international A, starting with André-Pierre Gignac and Florian Thauvin, who both play in Mexico, with the Monterrey Tigers – the only club to have released two players for the France team.

Jonathan Ikoné and Rennais Eduardo Camavinga have also already played with Didier Deschamps’ A’s.

Besides Gignac and Thauvin, the third player to be chosen outside the age limit is Montpellier midfielder Teji Savanier. For the Olympic tournament, the coaches must retain players born after January 1, 1997, with the exception of three non-quota elements.

This Olympic tournament is not on the official Fifa calendar, which is why many clubs initially refused to release their players for the competition. Sylvain Ripoll finally obtained the selection of several elements who were executives of the last two generations of Espoirs, such as Badiashile, the Niçois Amine Gouiri or the former Lyonnais Lucas Tousart (Herta Berlin).

The Olympic football tournament runs from July 21 to August 7. France will face Mexico, Japan – host country – and South Africa in the group stage.

With AFP