FC Toulouse won the French Football Cup for the first time – and will play in the Europa League next season. The announced protest against the pension reform, on the other hand, was quiet.
Toulouse FC has won the French Football Cup for the first time. The Ligue 1 promoted team clearly won the final in the Stade de France 5-1 (4-0) against defending champions FC Nantes on Saturday evening (April 29, 2023). 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 1957 cup winner of the same name has nothing to do with today’s FC Toulouse.
whistles and red cards
Unions actually wanted to use the French Cup final to protest against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform. Hardly anything was heard of that in the stadium. Some of the spectators whistled, some of whom also showed red cards against the reform.
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 field 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.
3000 police officers on duty
There had been a tug of war over 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.