The pink city decked out in purple, red and black. This weekend, a sporting rainbow unfolded over Toulouse, made up of the colors of the supporters of the Toulouse Football Club, during the final of the Coupe de France, and those of the Toulouse Stadium for a semi-final. Rugby Champions Cup. With, as a result, varying fortunes.
If the Occitan capital is used to vibrating with the exploits of its favorite "XV", the accession to the Stade de France of the "Téfécé", as we say here, proved to be unprecedented. All day, the streets, bars or Place du Capitole, filled with nearly 18,000 people, waved between ovality and football, the two meetings taking place in Ireland and Paris.
Since 1985, Stade Toulousain have lifted the Brennus shield thirteen times, including four consecutive times from 1994 to 1997. Founded in 1907, they were the first French club to win the European Cup, in 1996. With five titles continentals, "Stade" is the most successful club in this competition. Suffice to say that from April to June, every year, it has almost become a ritual for Toulouse residents to meet in these streets and bars to celebrate victories. Alas, around 6 p.m., the atmosphere was gloomy on the Place du Capitole after the defeat of Stade Toulouse against Leinster on Irish lands (22 to 42). For Julien, 25 years old, “we are on a land of rugby and we are inevitably disappointed. But we'll be back tonight," he promised.
100% Data Recruitment
Because, a few hours after the Irish broth, it was the turn of the soccer players to enter the scene. On the Place du "Cap", after an improbable interlude of retransmission of La Traviata, played live from the Capitole theater, it was therefore up to Téfécé, sixty-six years later, to play a Cup final.
The Toulouse club, owned since 2017 by the American investment fund RedBird Capital Partners, has finally emerged from the shadows. A year after its accession to Ligue 1, the Violets won (5-1), Saturday at the Stade de France against Nantes, a resounding victory, restoring a certain luster to the round ball against the oval ball. You have to go back to 1986, and a victory in the European Cup against Napoli de Maradona, or to 2007, and a third place in the league, to see "Téfécé" at the top of the bill.
The impetus was given by Damien Comolli, appointed president of the club on July 20, 2020. A year of purgatory in Ligue 2, a recovery, and above all new methods put in place have made it possible to restore the purple coat of arms. For Hugo, Axel and Julien, 24, "we were languishing in Ligue 2 and the change was incredible from the comeback".
Unlike Stade Toulouse, which relies on its training center from which its leaders Antoine Dupont or Romain Ntamack came out, Téfécé is betting on 100% “data” recruitment. "For three years, we have been recruiting our players only on statistical data, all over the world, without knowing their personality," President Commoli recently confided in the local press. On the lawn of the Stade de France, this Saturday, no French player played in the starting lineup, in this club with twenty different nationalities. All from second-tier championships around the world.
New management, new policy
Symbol of this gradual transition from the oval passion to the new dimension of the Violets, there were still several hundred of them this Saturday at the Danu, a pub located along the Canal du Midi. Created by Trévor Brenan, Irish by birth and emblematic player of the Toulouse Stadium in the 2000s, the place was bought in 2016 by an English license.
For Clément Ceparano, his assistant manager, "we broadcast the matches on eight screens, we serve English beer, but we want to welcome a young, quiet audience, and open to all sports". By entering into a partnership with Téfécé, the place has benefited from a new clientele, addicted to football. During the semi-final of the Coupe de France, there were more than 300 screaming with pleasure, as many as the evening of the broadcast of the final of the Football World Cup, in December 2022.
This Saturday evening of victory, Hugo, 25, subscriber to the TFC but who could not go to Paris, underlines the new dynamic of the club, "on social networks, in its policy of very low prices for subscribers, in the team's attacking game. We get off on it,” he concludes. With 13,000 subscribers, and many sold-out matches during the season, the club has indeed revived the city's interest in football.
Sunday, May 30, Toulouse FC will be able to brandish their cup on the balcony of the Capitol, in front of a jubilant square. A privilege hitherto reserved for rugby players, almost too accustomed to this annual passage. Previously, all night, the places Saint-Pierre, Dupuy or Carmes, will have vibrated to the sounds of the songs and horns of the supporters of Téfécé. An unprecedented purple night in the Toulouse sporting rainbow.
