Saint-Pierroise made a long journey to their Coupe de France match against Ligue 2 side Niort.
The distance between the Saint-Pierroise’s home stadium and that of their rivals is 9366 kilometres, as Saint-Pierroise comes from Réunion, an island in the Indian Ocean. It means that the club can make a shorter distance journey to India rather than playing in the domestic cup.
So how is it even possible that this minor club has made one of the greatest upsets in French football history?
The French colonial era is well known, but there are still places around the world that are considered an integral part of France. These places are known as Overseas France - France d'outre-mer. There are 13 territories located in the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Caribbean. Approximately 3 million people live in these territories; all of them are French citizens. Each of these territories has its local government, as well as representatives in the French Parliament.
Like in every place around the world, people play football in these territories. The local football federations are local branches of the French FA, even though every federation has a different status. Tahiti and New Caledonia are full FIFA and OFC members, and both took part in international competitions, like Tahiti in the 2013 Confederations Cup and Hienghène Sport in the 2019 Club World Cup. The Caribbean teams, such as Martinique and French Guiana, are associate members in CONCACAF and both take part in the Gold Cup.
The support from the French association allows the overseas territories' teams to register for the Coupe de France. Usually, they join the competition in the seventh round - where the draw is one of the unique scenes in European football: Teams from mainland France are declaring their will to be drawn against overseas teams. If they have luck, they will be drawn as the home team in their match. If not, they will have to travel abroad, as a single travel distance can reach more than 16,000 km.
These matches draw interest, but it's not common to see significant upsets, as most of the overseas teams are significantly weaker than their mainland opponents. But recently, there is a change in the air. In three out of the last four years, we tend to see more surprising results, and oversea teams are reaching the eighth round. In 2017, an upset was made by Excelsior from Réunion, after they won twice, qualified to the last 64 round, and got the opportunity to play away against powerhouse Lille.
For the football community in Réunion, it's a chance to discover a new football scene. Réunion is an associate member in CAF, and therefore the national teams cannot take part in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. The local teams can register to the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup, but they prefer not to do so. Players from Réunion are getting their sole international experience from playing with their teams in minor tournaments such as the Indian Ocean Games and the Outer-Mer Championship.
Some famous talents grew up on the island - Dimitri Payet played in several local teams before he moved to Nantes at the age of 18, and later played in Marseille, West Ham and made 38 international caps for France. Florent Sinama Pongolle, who won the Golden Ball in the 2001 U-17 World Cup, has played for Saint-Pierroise and recently returned to the club as a technical director.
Going back to the 2019-20 Coupe de France campaign, what this small team has done is simply amazing: The first game was in November, in the seventh round, as they won 1-0 away against a fourth tier side, Jura Sud Foot. In the next round, in front of 7000 people in their home stadium, they defeated Thaon from the fifth division by penalty shootouts. The last-64 round was their chance to be drawn against one of the Ligue 1 teams. After the teams were divided into groups, they had a chance of being drawn against some top names such as Marseille, Bordeaux or Nantes.
But these dreams didn't come true: They have been drawn for an away match against Niort from the second division. After a goalless draw, Gérard Hubert scored the first for Saint-Pierroise in the 59th minute. Only four minutes later, an equalizer was scored by an own goal of Gervais Randrianarisoa, who played for Madagascar in the 2019 AFCON. However, Ryan Ponti scored the winning goal in the 76th minute and created a famous moment for his club.
No overseas team has reached the last 32 round in the Coupe de France since 1989. Back then, it was Le Geldar from French Guiana, who played against Nantes. More than 30 years later, it has happened and Saint-Pierroise dares to deam even further. Perhaps they wanted to play another professional team in the next round, let alone one of the big names in France. But once again, they have been drawn against a team from a lower division, SAS Épinal, from the fourth tier. This draw can provide tricky, but gives them a better chance to advance further far in the French cup.
They didn't play against a top tier club yet, but Saint-Pierroise is creating a fairytale story. Can they make another step towards their biggest achievements ever?