‘Why not?’ – Pascal Dupraz puts himself in race to succeed Hervé Renard as Les Bleues manager

Pascal Dupraz has put himself into the running for the next manager of the France women’s team after Hervé Renard announced that he would be stepping down from the role after this summer’s Olympic games. 

Renard hinted towards disagreements with the French Football Federation in a recent interview with Le Figaro , claiming that “ The snipers were aimed at him .” An allusion to the federation not allowing the manager to moonlight as the Ivory Coast manager during January’s AFCON. 

This conflict means that Renard will not look to extend his contract past the 31st of August wherein he will look to return to the men’s game. There have been no suggestions towards who the FFF will eventually choose to replace Renard, but that has not stopped Dupraz from trying to begin the conversation. 

Speaking on Les Grandes Gueules du Sport , the former Dijon FCO and AS Saint-Étienne manager stated “ Why not? It’d be new to me. To progress in women’s football, you can’t just last one season. When Renard joined the women’s team, it surprised everyone… this is not a disavowal of women’s football. The French women’s team has a very good level .” 

Dupraz would certainly be a surprise choice for the role having been out of work since he failed to prevent Dijon from sliding from Ligue 2 into the Championnat National at the end of last season. An unfortunate feat that gave the manager the equally unfortunate distinction of suffering two relegations in two seasons after he also failed to keep Saint-Étienne in Ligue 1 the season before. 

GFFN | Nick Hartland