Football fever has gripped France and rightly so as the country heads into the finals of the Euro 2016 tournament against Portugal on Sunday.
Mad rush for French football kit as France face Portugal in Euro 2016 finals
Along with the fever is the mad rush for the French national team’s jersey especially in the French capital, Paris.
Managers of NSH Football, a sportswear shop in Paris told Reuters that the new kit used by the host nation for the ongoing tournament is selling real fast ahead of Sunday’s finals.
“I’ve got almost nothing left for France” said Anas Elfatoukh a salesman at NSH Football.
“Because of how France did in the semi-final, they’ve flown off the shelves,” he added.
Kits sales have soared through the roof since the beginning of the tournament. But in these final moments when France’s kits are becoming rare, one French player has emerged a fan favourite.
25-year-old France and Atletico Madrid star Antoine Greizemann may have had many admirers throughout the tournament but those numbers certainly have risen since his brace last Thursday ended Germany’s dreams of making the finals of the tournament.
A France-Portugal final may not have been what many anticipated Anas Elfatoukh said he saw it coming.
“It’s the ideal scenario, France-Portugal was the ideal scenario for us, my colleagues and I were saying that, we wanted it to be France-Portugal because we knew that from the semis the French supporters were going to buy shirts and since the beginning the Portuguese have been buying them. So it’s the ideal scenario” he said.
France head into the finals as favourites having scored 13 goals so far in the tournament and conceded 4. Portugal on the other hand have scored 8 goals so far and conceded 5 with their first victory in 90 minutes in the tournament being in the semi-final match against Wales.
Whereas some football pundits have said the quality of the Portugal-France final is not likely to rival the semi-final match between France and Germany, chances are it just might.
The Portuguese head into the final with the hope of securing their first European title which was snatched away from them in 2004 when as the host nation, they lost it to Greece by a lone goal.
France on the other hand has won the title twice in 1984 and 2000. But they will be hoping to make it a second host and win tournament – a feat they managed to achieve in 1984 and repeated in 1998 when they hosted the World Cup.
So it is a big deal for both teams (and their supporters) as they head into Sunday’s game.
“It’s the first time in my life that I’m going to the stadium to see such an important match” said Francois-Xavier Kruk, a French fan.
“I have been to stadiums before but I don’t quite know what to expect, it’s going to be so incredible. I think it’ll be really unforgettable.”