⚽️ France Celebrates Second World Cup Title & Warmly Welcomes Their Champions Back Home ⚽️

🏆🇫🇷⚽  On est les Champions ! 🏆🇫🇷⚽ 

France is still celebrating the national team's second World Cup title in a span of 20 years.

And why not? After all, the World Cup only comes around once every four years, and it is a rare occasion, and thus a big deal, for any nation to win it each time. Even the most decorated nations in the sport on the international stage - think Brazil, Germany, Italy, and Argentina - have won it only twice during my own lifetime. Admittedly, Germany won it just months before I was born in 1974, but it still was before I was born, although I guess I am dating myself some here. 

So, France winning another World Cup is a huge deal,and something worth celebrating. It brings the country together, like few things can. In 1998, it served as rationale for some to suggest that the country, as a whole, with people of African descent and with Muslims, can accomplish great things when they stand united. Hopefully, the dame good feeling can return again this time, and maybe last a little longer. At the very least, the nation is still celebrating this second championship, which obviously still feels new, and feels fresh.

Here's the thing: France now has won the World Cup more than once. My brother mused a little while ago, as France was progressing through the earlier elimination rounds, about how that star on their jersey was getting awfully lonely. Indeed, now they earned a second star. France, with the victory in the World Cup final this past Sunday, have now become only the sixth nation in the world to have captured multiple titles. 

As I admittedly have mentioned here before numerous times, the first time that France won the World Cup tournament, my brother and I were actually in France for that first championship, 20 years ago now. He somehow got tickets to the semifinal game (it turned out to be France against Croatia), and so when he invited me, that solidified my own determination to make a long overdue trip to France again to be there for that. France won that game, and the nation celebrated the team's first ever World Cup final appearance. Two days later, we continued with the festivities of the event when we attended the huge, free concert put on by the Three Tenors at the Champs-de-Mars underneath the Eiffel Tower. Then, two days after that, was the final itself. I laugh now recalling the tiny little television that he and I watched the game on, and how amazing it felt to see them win. We were supposed to watch the game in a suburb with family, but the head member began to grow nervous about driving us back that evening, and so we were dropped off well before the game, and we were right in front of the Stade de France again, where we had seen the semifinal, and where France would make history just a few hours later by winning their first world championship. They beat Brazil, and all of France, and particularly Paris, went wild with celebrations, and my brother and I were there to see it and soak it all in. To be a part of it. 

Looking back, I am rather glad that we were in Paris, and not in the sleepy suburb of Saint-Pathus. Despite the tiny television in the tiny apartment, we were in Paris, and so we got to see the wild celebrations in the capital city - also France's biggest city, obviously - for ourselves, which itself was arguably perhaps the greatest single memory of that first week of my French trip in 1998, perhaps even more memorable than the game that we had attended. 

Seeing images of other major cities from other nations when their nations captured the World Cup - in Brazil in 2002, in Italy in 2006, in Spain in 2010, and in Germany in 2014, felt reminiscent of our own joy with feeling like we were an intimate part of that incredible experience of France's first World Cup championship in 1998. 

But now, with France once again capturing the World Cup for a second time, and seeing all of France celebrate again, it is difficult not to reminisce one more time. 

Such incredible memories!

There were some differences this time. One thing that I did not like as much was the French uniforms, admittedly. That is a luxury of a problem to have, given that they won this World Cup, but I like the more traditional uniforms for France, with a slightly lighter shade of blue, and white shorts, with red socks. That, to me, is the true French uniform as it always was before, and frankly, as it should be. The uniforms that they wore in this World Cup were not as attractive or appealing, catering to the overall trend in many sports of going with darker uniforms.

Some other differences? Well, one is actually a similarity in certain ways, yet very different in others. That would be that both times, the President of France was shown prominently during the later stages of the team's World Cup run. Back in 1998, Jacques Chirac was that man, although he was older. This time, it was a much younger man, Emmanuel Macron, and his celebration was a lot wilder, and a whole lot more youthful in look and feel. 

Also, Didier Deschamps was a coach, not a player. But he became only the third man i history to win a World Cup both as a coach and player. And the team seemed to center their celebrations around him, far more than the 1998 players did with the coach for France at that time, Aimé Jacquet. These players picked Deschamps up and literally threw him up and down on the field after France won. Later, they interrupted his press conference and began to sing

"Didier Deschamps, Didier Deschamps, Didier, Didier, Didier Deschamps!"

Shortly, they switched to the more common lyrics for that little tune:

"On est les champions ! On est les champions ! On est, On est, On est les champions !"

If you are not family with this little joyous chant, here is a video of it:

And here is a video of the press conference, where victorious French players invaded the press conference of their coach, Deschamps:

While French people celebrated all over the country back home, the French players also decided to celebrate in a rather unorthodox manner, interrupting the press conference of their coach, Didier Deschamps, simply to celebrate in front of the cameras of the media. 

Just in case you wanted to see the entirety of the press conference, and not just the few entertaining minutes when the players livened it up, here you go:

🏆🇫🇷⚽  On est les Champions ! 🏆🇫🇷⚽ 

Again, all of France is still celebrating, still in a joyous mood. This is definitely something to celebrate, and here are images from France with that celebration, welcoming their newly crowned heroes home: