Téfécé won the first French Cup in club history on Saturday and breathes new life into a city that lives almost exclusively for rugby.
The popularity curves between rugby and football are probably not yet close to crossing in the hearts of Toulouse, but the feat remains resounding. In a city that has almost sworn by the oval ball for decades, the TFC has come to remind everyone that its football club is also capable of great things.
By mercilessly sweeping FC Nantes in the final on Saturday April 29 (5-1), Philippe Montanier’s men made a sensational entry into the history of the Ville Rose, thanks to a historic performance in several respects.
On the pitch, a humiliation in history
We have to go back to the final of the 1970 edition to find traces of a slap at the level of the one inflicted by the TFC in Nantes on Saturday. It has been 53 years since a team scored five goals in the Coupe de France final. At the time, Robert Herbin, Jean-Michel Larqué and Aimé Jacquet had already had fun with the Canaries (5-0). The idols of the Greens have given way to the lesser known Logan Costa, Thijs Dallinga or Zakaria Aboukhlal, the main architects of the Toulouse title in 2023.
Even more than the final score, it is the Toulouse tornado that will mark the spirits. In front from the 3rd minute, Philippe Montanier’s men had their feet stuck on the accelerator until half-time, before controlling. “Winning a final is rare. On a score like 5-1 it’s not trivial. There is a pride in having won, but also the way. We wanted to mark the history of the club but we will perhaps to be marking the history of the Coupe de France with this score. The players have been fantastic, sometimes the planets are aligned and everything goes as planned.”, welcomed the coach at a press conference. It was also necessary to go back to 1955 to find traces of a team having scored at least four goals before half-time, that is to say an eternity.
For the club, a landmark trophy
If this title is the second in the history of the city after that of 1957, it is the first in the history of the current club, founded following the dissolution of the old one, in 1970. With the exception of three D2 champion titles (1982, 2003, 2022), the club’s record was still officially blank, which was messy for a city of this size. “It’s the best sporting emotion of my life. I’m 27 and I’ve never known Toulouse to win a real title. I wasn’t very excited about the takeover by RedBird but it’s clear that for 2 -3 years, it wins!”smiles Sébastien at the exit of the stadium.
A little further on, Alexandre, who is about to return by minibus to Toulouse for seven, adds an extra dimension to the feat: his club has just been promoted to Ligue 1 this year. “It’s like a dream. It’s crazy. I don’t know if we’re going to relive that one day. There was Ligue 2 last year but there, it’s the strongest emotion that we had. We’re going to celebrate that on the way back!”
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The players also already measure the scope of the performance they accomplished on Saturday evening: “We came home really wanting to bring a trophy back to Toulouse. On the pitch, we were all running for each other. We’re a real group and it gives that. It’s crazy!”savored Farès Chaïbi at the microphone of France 2.
For the city, a football break for a city that breathes rugby
And this trophy should bring some comfort to the hearts of TFC supporters in Toulouse, who have long suffered from comparison with Stade Toulousain, the ogre of France and Europe. In a city that above all breathes rugby, football has long been the poor relation of its oval cousin, which still draws the crowds to Ernest-Wallon. “Toulouse was getting a lot of room because we were an anomaly. We are the fourth city in France and we didn’t have a major trophy. There, it’s serious! The club will be respected a little more, especially given the way this evening”welcome Arnaud and Jean-Marie, 44 and 42, voice broken after screaming.
After a few courses in the European Cup at the end of the 2000s, the TFC had fallen back into relative anonymity, with passages in Ligue 2, while Stade Toulousain collected the titles. “Even forties like us have not had a major trophy with Toulouse. Tef’ was a match against Maradona’s Napoli in the European Cup, another against Liverpool in the 2000s and nothing else “In addition, we are going to return to Europe. The last time we were there during the Gignac era, we had a hard time. The atmosphere at the Stadium was gloomy at the time, but the good results brought people back in stands, it will change everything”they add.
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More stoic in a press conference, Philippe Montanier did not forget the environment of the club and the city in the success of the Violets. “There is a lot of joy in sharing this Cup with the people of the club, and of course all our supporters. The purple people have been waiting for so long to bring this cup back to the Capitol”, smiled the coach. Symbolically, the TFC lived the finest hour in its history on the same day that Stade Toulouse failed at the gates of the Champions Cup final, dominated by Leinster. Sunday, the Place du Capitole will be for once more flooded with the purple of the TFC than the red and black of the rugby club, but Toulouse will continue to see life in pink.
