Dhe FC Toulouse won the French Football Cup for the first time with a shooting match. The Ligue 1 promoted team clearly won the final at the Stade de France 5-1 (4-0) against defending champions FC Nantes. It was the biggest final win since St. Etienne’s 5-0 win in 1970 – also against Nantes.
In front of 78,000 spectators, Logan Costa (4th/10th) and Thijs Dallinga (23rd/31st) ensured the highest half-time lead in the history of the French Cup finals. After the connection by Ludovic Blas (75./penalty), Zakaria Aboukhlal (79.) put the final point.
Toulouse will therefore take part in the group stage of the Europa League next season. For the club, it was the first major title in the club’s history from a purely legal point of view – the cup winner of the same name from 1957 has nothing to do with today’s FC Toulouse. Record winner Paris St. Germain had already failed in the round of 16 at Olympique Marseille.
unions fail
Meanwhile, on the fringes of the final, the unions failed in their attempt to use the final to protest against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms. At a prearranged moment at the Stade de France, only a few whistles could be heard from the spectators, some of whom also showed red cards against the reform.
Red card for pension reform: only isolated protests against Macron
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Image: Reuters
In view of the announced protests, there was initially speculation as to whether Macron would come to the final as usual. The president followed the final from the stands with his wife Brigitte, as usual, but did not go onto the pitch for safety reasons. Before kick-off, he greeted the players as they made their way onto the pitch. He later presented the trophy to the jubilant Toulouse pros in the stands.
There had been discussions about the union protest. The police prefecture initially banned actions around the Stade de France. The Paris Administrative Court lifted this ban a few hours before kick-off. Unionists came to the stadium to distribute 30,000 symbolic red cards against raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 and 10,000 whistles to spectators. However, according to the rules of the Football Association, it is forbidden to bring whistles into the stadium. Many of the whistles and red cards were confiscated by the stewards at the entrance.
The police deployed 3,000 officers for security around the game, 1,000 more than at the cup final last year. Drones should also be used. In the end, however, there was only talk of 21 arrests around the game.