Its selection rules, very unequal participation and the distance between matches have often kept football away from the Olympic atmosphere. On paper, the Paris 2024 Games will face the same pitfalls. Unless the hoped-for presence of Kilian Mbappé is enough to reverse the trend.
Ludovic Heurley (photo above), in charge of football and blind football at COJO Paris 2024, explained this to FrancsJeux as part of the series of interviews with sports managers from the organizing committee: the challenge is not easy. But for this former FFF, football could well be won over next year by the spirit of the Games.
FrancsJeux : Your life before COJO Paris 2024?
Ludovic Heureley : I am a child of the French Football Federation (FFF). I worked there for 16 years. The first five or six years, I was assigned to the ticketing department. Then I moved to the organization of the French teams, where I was in charge of the junior and women's teams. The last four years, before joining the COJO Paris 2024, my missions were more international. I was seconded to UEFA to take care of events.
Your past experience of the Olympic Games?
I experienced the Tokyo 2020 Games from the inside, on behalf of FIFA. I was assigned to the Sapporo site, in Hokkaido prefecture. A real challenge, with 11 matches played in just seven days. The experience was very special, in the health context. Quite terrifying and strange at first, but ultimately quite incredible.
A memorable memory from the Games?
On a human level, having followed the journey at the Tokyo Paralympic Games of one of my colleagues, Gilles de la Bourdonnaye, the sports manager of table tennis at COJO Paris 2024. I was very impressed by the performance of some table tennis players, an Egyptian in particular, who played while holding his racket in his mouth. Otherwise, the penalty scored by Neymar during the penalty shootout of the final of the football tournament of the Rio 2016 Games. The context was extremely tense, against Germany, two years after the semi-final of the 2014 World Cup. Neymar took the last penalty. He scored. For many, it remains one of the greatest moments in football history in terms of mental toughness.
The file at the top of the pile on your desk?
Two subjects are at the top of the pile, to be concluded quickly after long months of exchanges and discussions with FIFA. The first concerns the final list of training grounds for teams qualified for the Olympic Games. We must find an agreement with FIFA. The second subject relates to the location of the VAR and its team. We are moving forward, it should be installed at the IBC (the International Center for Broadcasters). FIFA is very involved in the Games, and also very careful, particularly on questions relating to referees.
Football and blind football sites: their strengths and challenges in the run-up to the Games?
For the Olympic football tournament, we will have seven stadiums in France, all regularly used during the season (Paris, Bordeaux, Nice, Lyon, Saint-Etienne, Nantes Marseille). The program includes 58 matches – men’s and women’s – in just 18 days. For comparison, a World Cup totals 64 matches in one month. The challenge will be to promote the Olympic spirit, despite the distance from Paris, and ensure that football fully finds its place at the Games. For blind football at the Paralympic Games, the situation is more simple. The competition will take place in Paris, at the Eiffel Tower stadium, in the heart of the Champ-de-Mars, with players staying in the athletes' village. The site will have been used for beach volleyball during the Olympic Games. We will have to remove the tons of sand used for the pitches, then lay a solid, noise-free floor and a synthetic turf. We will have time for this transition, but it still promises to be a technical feat. The challenge in blind football will be to give the event a social dimension that will remain after the Games. Prove that everyone can do sport, regardless of their disability.
Paris 2024 will be a success for football and blind football if...
The priority remains the athlete experience. For football, the Paris 2024 Games will be a success if the competition is won over by the Olympic spirit, despite the distance from Paris. The players are very attached to the Games. The event taking place in Europe, where the majority of players play, participation should be there. For blind football, we will have succeeded if the floodlights remain on once the competition is over. The flame must not go out on the evening of the closing ceremony.
