A couple of weekends ago, Sebastien Flochon travelled to the first major Cup final of his season. He was among the guests of honour at Atletico Madrid's new Wanda Metroplitano stadium, and, after the final whistle, he was out on the pitch celebrating with the victors. He met Lionel Messi and joked he had learned some useful lessons from Barcelona's 5-0 Copa del Rey triumph over Sevilla.
“Well, I picked up a few things on how to win a Cup final,” he smiled to his old friend Samuel Umititi, the Barcelona defender and France international who had invited Flochon to the game and arranged his tickets for him.
As kids, Umtiti and Flochon played important finals alongside one another, youth-level matches in the jersey of Olympqiue Lyonnais, where they passed through the academy together in teams of renowned potential and containing a high number of footballers who would go far as adult professionals. Safe to say Umtiti, a European championship finalist with France, a double winner this season with Barca, went further than Flochon.
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But on Tuesday night, Umtiti will make sure he gives his old friend, the Flochon who he says taught him to swim and ride a bicycle when they were schoolboys, as much attention in his Cup final as Flochon paid to Umtiti’s.
This will likely be the only time Flochon, the 25 year-old midfielder, plays in one. It is scarcely credible that his club, Les Herbiers of the French National League, the third tier of the country’s football pyramid, have reached the final of the Coupe de France.
They meet Paris Saint-Germain in the Stade de France, in front of an expected crowd of 80,000. That’s 16 times the capacity of their own Massabielle arena in their home town, a place of 16,000 inhabitants in the west of the country.
And that’s just one small detail of how these Davids are dwarfed by the Goliaths of the capital in this glorious mis-match of a seasonal showdown.
Budgets? The PSG who have transformed the landscape of French club football since Qatari investors took a controlling stake in the club in 2011 operate on an annual budget conservatively quoted at around €500m (Dh2.2 billion). Les Herbiers’ collection of semi-professionals and full-timers have boosted this year’s coffers, thanks to their Cup run, to a little over €1.5m.
Player salaries there tend not to exceed €3,000 per month; Neymar, whom PSG smashed the world transfer fee record to sign for €222m last summer, earns close to €3m a month from his employers, excluding his independent commercial endorsements.
PSG, who breezed to their fifth Ligue 1 title in six years in mid-April without the Brazilian superstar – he is recovering from injury still – have won the last three editions of the Coupe de France.
Les Herbiers have made their remarkable progress to their first final while fending off the threat of relegation, and with perhaps a little good fortune, avoiding any contests with clubs from the top-flight of French football until now.
In the semi-final they eliminated Chambly, who are co-tenants of the National 1 league, and they reached the last eight via wins over second-division Auxerre and Lens.
Those victories alone represent twice as much giant-killing as Les Herbiers would have anticipated in a decade, even if the Coupe de France is an unusually fairytaled land in modern football.
Flochon is just about old enough to remember how Calais, of the fourth tier, reached the final in 2000, losing there to Nantes. Nine years ago the trophy was lifted by Guingamp, who were then a Ligue 2 club.
Back then, however, French football was not dominated by a juggernaut like the current PSG, a club whose recruitment over the last five years has caused alarm not only at Umtiti’s Barcelona, who sold Neymar against their will, but around all the grandees of European football.
On Tuesday night, PSG take on a club more than 50 places beneath them in their domestic hierarchy having beaten last year's French champions, Monaco, 7-1 on the way to seizing back le championnat, and the same opponents 3-0 to win the League Cup final.
“We have maybe half a percent of a chance,” Les Herbiers’ Flochon said.
Quick%20facts
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
FINAL RESULT
Sharjah Wanderers 20 Dubai Tigers 25 (After extra-time)
Wanderers
Tries: Gormley, Penalty
cons: Flaherty
Pens: Flaherty 2
Tigers
Tries: O’Donnell, Gibbons, Kelly
Cons: Caldwell 2
Pens: Caldwell, Cross
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Where to buy
Limited-edition art prints of The Sofa Series: Sultani can be acquired from Reem El Mutwalli at www.reemelmutwalli.com
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The Bio
Favourite place in UAE: Al Rams pearling village
What one book should everyone read: Any book written before electricity was invented. When a writer willingly worked under candlelight, you know he/she had a real passion for their craft
Your favourite type of pearl: All of them. No pearl looks the same and each carries its own unique characteristics, like humans
Best time to swim in the sea: When there is enough light to see beneath the surface
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
Mountain%20Boy
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GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
FIGHT CARD
1. Featherweight 66kg
Ben Lucas (AUS) v Ibrahim Kendil (EGY)
2. Lightweight 70kg
Mohammed Kareem Aljnan (SYR) v Alphonse Besala (CMR)
3. Welterweight 77kg
Marcos Costa (BRA) v Abdelhakim Wahid (MAR)
4. Lightweight 70kg
Omar Ramadan (EGY) v Abdimitalipov Atabek (KGZ)
5. Featherweight 66kg
Ahmed Al Darmaki (UAE) v Kagimu Kigga (UGA)
6. Catchweight 85kg
Ibrahim El Sawi (EGY) v Iuri Fraga (BRA)
7. Featherweight 66kg
Yousef Al Husani (UAE) v Mohamed Allam (EGY)
8. Catchweight 73kg
Mostafa Radi (PAL) v Abdipatta Abdizhali (KGZ)
9. Featherweight 66kg
Jaures Dea (CMR) v Andre Pinheiro (BRA)
10. Catchweight 90kg
Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Juscelino Ferreira (BRA)
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Wonka
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The biog
Name: Atheja Ali Busaibah
Date of birth: 15 November, 1951
Favourite books: Ihsan Abdel Quddous books, such as “The Sun will Never Set”
Hobbies: Reading and writing poetry
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