number of licensees on the rise, women’s section at Stade Rennais… In Brittany, women’s football is on the rise

26,000 people are expected on Friday at Roahzon Park in Rennes for the match against Austria, decisive for Les Bleues’ qualification for the Final Four of the League of Nations. The French team could beat its attendance record outside the World Cup.

“We are lucky to have very good news from Brittany.” When announcing his group for these last two matches of the year, Hervé Renard did not hesitate to share his great satisfaction at the idea of ​​playing at home, in a sold-out stadium. Against Austria, 26,000 people (out of a capacity of 29,778) are expected at Roazhon Park in Rennes, Friday December 1. This Nations League meeting should thus beat the attendance record for Les Bleues outside the World Cup, which was 24,835 supporters for a France-England match in 2016 in… Rennes. In the World Cup, the maximum attendance rose to 45,595 spectators during France-United States at the Parc des Princes in the quarter-finals of the 2019 World Cup.

“I was sometimes a little disappointed with the stadiums in which we were able to play. Perhaps we thought that I was a little too demanding. But I think that we have to beexplained the French coach to West France. There, I am delighted that we can attract 26,000 spectators. It’s awesome. It will bring additional motivation and desire. We owe it to the Breton public, who love football.” On the first day the ticket office opened, 8,000 tickets had already been sold, when the stadium was full two weeks before the match. A clear improvement after the receptions of Portugal in Valenciennes (17,000 spectators) and Norway in Reims (13,000 but during the week), which once again demonstrates the enthusiasm for women’s football in Brittany.

Brittany, a land of women’s football

If the stakes of the match, with qualification for the Final Four of the League of Nations in the event of victory, and the prospect of the Olympic Games at home, partly explain this enthusiasm, the Rouge et Noir enclosure is known for his ability to fill up for the Blues. The stadium was already full for the 2019 World Cup group match against Nigeria, and before that for the famous France-England in 2016.

“Breton women’s football is extremely dynamic. In addition to En Avant Guingamp in the first division, the region has many clubs in women’s D3 [Brest, Saint-Malo et Bréquigny-Rennes]analyzes Sophie Bodin, sports sociologist at the University of Rennes 2. The impetus given on the ground via training is paying off and these crowds are the result.”

This Tuesday, the League of Brittany announced that it had identified more than 15,000 licensees on its land for the 2023-2024 season. A figure up almost 4% compared to the previous year, which makes it one of the most active regions in France in terms of women’s football, which has around 200,000 members, according to the Federation.

Among those under 14 and 15, the increase even reached more than 22%, proof of the importance of recent democratization in the region. “In my university courses, I meet more and more players. There is obviously a correlation between the increase in the number of licensees and the fact that so many people come to the stadium”continues Sophie Bodin.

The Stade Rennes paradox

The situation in Rennes is nevertheless paradoxical since in parallel with the various attendance records established during the visits of the French selection, the emblematic club of the city, Stade Rennais, has not played the game of women’s football for a long time. Created a few years earlier, the women’s section of the SRFC disappeared in 1976. We had to wait until 2021 to finally see it reborn. Due to some delays, the “federal plan for the feminization” of French football, decided by Noël Le Graët upon his arrival at the head of the FFF in 2011, had not made it possible to repair this anomaly at the era.

“The flagship measure was to encourage professional men’s clubs in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 to have a women’s section within the next three years. Le Graët would later renounce this, opting instead for the establishment of incentives financial and subsidies for the creation or sponsorship of a women’s football school” by the clubs, thus retraced the historian specializing in women’s football, Hubert Artus, in his book Girl Power, 150 years of women’s football (Calmann Lévy) published in 2022. So much so that Stade Rennes was able to avoid founding a senior women’s team, which is now the case since this summer.

However, nothing to spoil the pleasure of the three regionals of the stage in the France group: Clara Matéo, who studied at the Rennes hopefuls pole as well as Griedge Mbock and Eugénie Le Sommer, both of whom passed through Saint-Brieuc. Present at a press conference this Thursday, the last, top scorer in the history of the selection, assured that she had not “only good memories” reindeer. It’s up to the Bleues to ride on this popular support and celebrate with fervor a qualification in their pocket.