PARIS: France’s victorious World Cup players will all be awarded the Legion of Honour, the office of President Emmanuel Macron said Monday ahead of their visit to the Elysee Palace. No date has yet been set for the ceremony to hand over France’s highest award for “exceptional service” to the nation, which follows the team’s 4-2 win over Croatia in Russia on Sunday.
It was France’s second World Cup title, 20 years after the team led by captain Didier Deschamps won its first title, which also earned them a Legion of Honour from then-president Jacques Chirac. As a result Deschamps, now the coach of “Les Bleus”, will in theory be promoted from a Legion Knight to a higher grade such as Officer. The team was en route from Moscow to Paris for a celebratory parade down the Champs Elysees avenue before meeting with Macron and his wife Brigitte at the presidential palace.
Macron had already celebrated with the team on Sunday after attending the final in Moscow, to project a more modern image as a president in touch with the masses. Nearly 3,000 people have been invited to the reception, including 1,000 youths from football clubs around the country such as Bondy, the Paris suburb where 19-year-old wunderkind Kylian Mbappe got his start.
Paulinho out to rescue Guangzhou title bid: Brazil’s Paulinho swaps the World Cup and Barcelona for the Chinese Super League this week as he returns on loan to rescue Guangzhou Evergrande’s flagging bid for an eighth straight title.
The powerful midfielder, last seen in action in the World Cup quarter-finals, received a rapturous welcome from Evergrande fans as he made his surprise return after lifting the Spanish title with Barcelona. Paulinho, 29, spent two years with Evergrande before going to Barcelona last season and Fabio Cannavaro’s team are in dire need of his dynamism, lying fifth as the CSL resumes on Tuesday following its mid-season break.
Paulinho isn’t the only World Cup player to arrive in China’s summer transfer window, which closed on Friday, with Morocco striker Ayoub El Kaabi and Serbian centre-back Dusko Tosic heading to Hebei China Fortune and Guangzhou R&F. Paulinho will also be joined by fellow Brazilian Anderson Talisca, on loan from Benfica, as Evergrande bid to reel in league-leaders Shanghai SIPG, starting with Tuesday’s game against Guizhou Zhicheng. —AFP
Paris renames metro stations to honour WC stars: Six Paris metro stations were temporarily renamed in honour of France’s World Cup winning champions after their 4-2 rollercoaster victory against Croatia. Among the changes, station Victor Hugo became “Victor Hugo Lloris”, named after the team’s captain and goalkeeper, whose second half mistake gave Croatia faint hopes of a late comeback. The metro stop at Bercy has become “Bercy les Bleus”, a play on words to thank the team. The station Avron has taken the name “Nous Avron Gagne”, a play on the French to mean “We have won”.
Charles de Gaulle-Etoile was turned into “On a 2 Etoiles”, meaning “We have two stars” — referring to the country’s first World Cup win on home soil in 1998 and last night’s victory in Russia. Notre-Dame des Champs has become “Notre Didier Deschamps”, while Champs-Elysees- Clemenceau has been changed to “Deschamps Elysees-Clemenceau” — both stations pay tribute to the team’s coach Didier Deschamps, who was also a midfielder in the 1998 side. The changes represent “winks” to the team, Paris transport operator RATP said Monday. It said the squad will use an open top double-decker electric bus to greet fans between the Place de l’Etoile, site of the Arc de Triomphe, and the Elysee Palace. The players are expected to land at Roissy Airport on Monday afternoon and will be taken directly to the celebrations before being received by President Emmanuel Macron.
