A solid start. For the first match of the competition, the reigning French Olympic champions face Hungary on Thursday, July 25 at 7 p.m. at the Arena Paris Sud. Although their three Olympic medals are now distant (1976, 1996 and 2000), the Hungarians remain an opponent to be taken seriously: as evidenced by their 10th place in the last two world championships.
The French team is the team to beat in more ways than one. At home, the Bleues are defending their status as world champions won last December and especially their gold medal won in Tokyo in 2021.
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A dense group but without a favorite. To reach the quarter-finals, Les Bleues must finish in one of the top four places in Group B, which includes Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain, Brazil, and Angola. The Dutch, world champions in 2019 and fifth in 2023, will be the toughest opponents for the French team, which avoids Norway and Denmark in particular.
Are the executives there? The players who have already won Olympic gold in Tokyo are expected to show the way, like captain Estelle Nze Minko and Pauletta Foppa. Goalkeeper Laura Glauser, who has been part of almost all of Les Bleues’ adventures over the past ten years, missed out on the title in Japan but has since established herself as the starting XI and impressed against Norway in preparation.
Hungary has weapons. World champion in 1965 and European champion in 2000, Hungary’s glory days are long gone. But it remains a top-flight nation, which the French had a hard time beating at the Tokyo Games in 2021, also in their first match (30-29). On the right flank, full-back Katrin Klujber, elected to the 2022 European Championship team of the year, and winger Viktoria Gyori-Lukacs form a prolific pair.