Silver medallists in London in 2012, the French blind football team won gold by beating Argentina on Saturday evening in the final of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games tournament.
The French amateurs dominated the South American professionals at the end of the penalty shootout (1-1, 3 tabs to 2). Frédéric Villeroux scored the decisive attempt in the electric atmosphere of the Champ-de-Mars site.
Supported by Deschamps and the Blues
This historic success for French blind footballers seems like a form of revenge, 18 months after the 2022 World Cup final lost by Hugo Lloris’s Blues against Lionel Messi’s Argentinians, who also won on penalties (3-3, 4 tabs to 2).
The Blues and their coach Didier Deschamps had posted a video of encouragement to their blind colleagues, before the
France-Italy League of Nations lost Friday evening at the Parc des Princes (1-3).
The 2024 Paralympic blind football champions:
Khalifa Youmé, Frédéric Villeroux, Tidiane Diakité, Martin Baron, Hakim Arezki, Alessandro Bartolomucci, Benoît Chevreau de Montlehu, Gaël Rivière, Fabrice Morgado, Mickaël Miguez.
Selector : Toussaint Akpweh.
