May 1997 – N°25 – News in brief – ENGLISH

As one of the biggest events to take place at the end of the century, the World Cup is intended to be a celebration of youth. This was the message from Prime Minister Alain Juppé, Guy Drut, Minister for Youth Affairs and Sport, and the CFO Presidents Fernand Sastre and Michel Platini when they announced the World Cup youth projects at the Stade de France on May 20th. FRANCE 98 Informations will be keeping readers abreast of everything put on for young people with respect to the World Cup. Various projects, “rubber-stamped” by the CFO and the Ministry for Sport and Youth Affairs, are designed to stimulate and support national, public and private initiatives, and in doing so promote discussion and fellowship. These many initiatives should provide concrete evidence that the CFO is indeed doing what it set out to do: making this World Cup an occasion for Universality, Sharing and Excitement.

1998 Footballs

On Sunday 15 June, the winner of the “1998 Footballs” competition, FC Veurois, a club from the Isère district near Grenoble, will welcome the Variétés Football Club (charity team), captained by a certain Michel Platini, the CFO Co-President. The competition was set up by the CFO in association with Crédit Agricole and Adidas to reward those clubs buying the most FRANCE 98 PASSES during the first-refusal period for the football community. 1998 footballs have already been distributed among the 666 most deserving winners.

ParisotAR up

It’s a winner! Eager to keep up with the other World Cup host cities, the city of Paris has signed a partnership agreement with the CFO. The tenth and last contract of its kind was signed at the Paris City Hall by the capital city’s mayor, Jean Tibéri (centre in photo), the two CFO Presidents Fernand Sastre and Michel Platini, the CFO Managing Director Jacques Lambert and the Managing Director of the Parc des Princes management company, Lionel Dreksler, in the presence of the French Football Federation President Claude Simonet. The agreement sets down the reciprocal commitment of both parties in terms of human and material resources for the World Cup and puts the Parc des Princes stadium at the CFO’s disposal. « Le Parc », once it has been brought into line with FIFA specifications, is due to host six games in the World Cup, including the third place play-off on 11 July 1998.

Marketing Seminar

The eight Official Suppliers to FRANCE 98 got together on 25 April at the Meridien Hotel in Montparnasse for an information round-up organised by the CFO’s marketing department. On the programme: various events organised for the run-up to the World Cup (Tournoi de France, the “A year to go” project, the “Coupe des Partenaires”, and the draw for the finals), and how the commercial affiliates could best exploit their involvement in terms of media exposure and access to the Hospitality Villages and sales areas.

International Press Conference

350 members of the print media due to cover the 1998 World Cup will gather in Paris on 9 June for an information session organised by the CFO. In the morning, everybody will congregate together for a World Cup organisation presentation, with special emphasis given to the media set-up. In the afternoon, there are to be two simultaneous workshops: one on the private office space available for hire to press agencies and organisations, the other devoted to special facilities for photographers. Accredited print media in France for the 1998 World Cup will number some 3,150, including 750 photographers.

A miniature Stade de France

5,000 hours of work! That’s how long it took to put together this miniature Stade de France replica, 1/30th the size of the original, now to be found at “France Miniature” (a five hectare-site half an hour outside Paris at Elancourt), where 350,000 visitors come every year like “giants” to see France’s famous monuments and sites in miniature. Though the real Stade de France is hardly finished, the stadium where 9 matches in the 1998 World Cup are to be played already qualifies as one of the nation’s most celebrated constructions. And here, small is beautiful!