why will the Blues not play any matches at the Stade de France?

The XV of France will play its three home matches in Marseille, Lille and Lyon, far from the Stade de France.

They left him in tears on October 15, after a defeat (28-29) against South Africa in the quarter-final of “their” Rugby World Cup. If the Blues are preparing to play three matches of the 2024 Six Nations Tournament at home, none will be held at the Stade de France, starting with the reception of Ireland on Friday February 2 in Marseille. This will be followed by Italy on February 25 in Lille, then England in Lyon at the end of the Tournament on March 16.

A brand new Stade de France for the Olympics

If the XV of France will have to wait until November 9 and a test match against Japan, before returning to its usual venue, it is quite simply because the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis, is closed for work, with a view to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. New pitch, new nine-lane athletics track, new power supply, brand new giant screens and installation of 5G, this modernization of the Blues’ setting began shortly after the end of the Rugby World Cup won by South Africa, and must end at the end of May. From July 24, the Stade de France will host the Olympic rugby sevens tournament, the athletics events and the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games.

Of the 33 Blues present on October 15, only Antoine Dupont will therefore be able to discover the new face of the enclosure with nearly 80,000 seats in July, since the captain of the XV of France will participate in the Olympics with the French team of rugby sevens.

A forced and unwelcome relocation for the French Rugby Federation, which is already facing an operating deficit of 40 million euros over the last two seasons and is forced to reduce its lifestyle. “For us, it is a shortfall of around two million euros per match since there are not the same gauges in the provincial stadiums, and there is not the same capacity to sell hospitality”, its president Florian Grill confided to franceinfo on December 17. The FFR has also made a request for compensation from Cojop (Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games).

The Bordeaux stadium too small for the Blues

It is therefore this criterion of capacity (and therefore ticket revenue) which guided the FFR when choosing where to play these three matches. Marseille (67,394 places)Lyon-Décines (59,186 places) and Lille-Villeneuve-d’Ascq (50 157) are the three largest French stadiums behind the Stade de France (nearly 80,000 seats). Bordeaux saw its candidacy rejected due to its smaller capacity (42,115 places).

If it has only played once in its entire history at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Lille-Villeneuve-d’Ascq or at Parc-OL in Lyon-Décines (four times in all in Lyon), the XV of France will perpetuate on Friday in Marseille a relationship already rich in emotions with the public at the Stade Vélodrome (12 victories in 14 matches since 2000).