FRANCE 98 – A closing ceremony of lights

The World Cup 1998 will come to an end on 12 July with the Final at the Stade de France in SAINT-DENIS. After 33 days of competition and excitement, the winning team of FRANCE 98 shall be known. Many festivities will surround the event, including the YVES SAINT LAURENT fashion show before the match and the Ricky Martin concert, but also the closing ceremony, which will take place after the trophy presentation.

This ceremony, directed by Yves Pépin, the same producer of the 10 June opening ceremony at the Stade de France, will pay one last tribute to the countries that participated in FRANCE 98. It will also usher in 2002, the date of the next World Cup that will take place in Japan and Korea.

The closing ceremony will be brief–10 minutes–but intense, with 150 people on stage and 100 more behind the scenes. It will consist of four different scenes, beginning with the “Parade des Tapageurs”, a colourful fanfare of 50 musicians and acrobats. This introduction will be followed by the second scene, “La course des Joyeux”, with 63 torch carriers parading down the pitch in a spectacle of fire and light, the leitmotifs of this demonstration of special effects and pyrotechnics.

The third scene, titled “A Salute to 2002”, will showcase Korean and Japanese percussionists who will link FRANCE 98 to the next World Cup. “Flaming” stilts will also take the stage, as the light intensifies before the grand finale, titled “Take off and flight”.

During this fourth and final scene, the Stade de France will look as it never has before. Above the pitch, where all the actors will be whirling round like lights, the roof will begin to move. One by one, rockets will light up and fly away, as the stadium “takes off.” This magnificent scene will be the last in a series of wonderful images of the World Cup in FRANCE, engraved in the minds and memories of fans and television viewers.

Schedule for 12 July 1998 at the Stade de France:

19h35: YVES SAINT LAURENT fashion show (15 minutes)

20h00 (time subject to change): Ricky Martin (4 minutes)

21h00: Final of the 1998 World Cup

22h45 (later if match goes to extra time): Trophy awarding and lap of honour, followed by the closing ceremony (10 minutes).

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