Paris 2024 hopes the spirit of 1998 will help its bid for the Olympics.
After announcing soccer legend Zinedine Zidane as a bid ambassador, Paris 2024 published a video with Zidane and longtime teammate Laurent Blanc discussing France’s 1998 World Cup win at home. Zidane’s Real Madrid stars, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, also make appearances.
The video included images of mass celebrations in Paris from July 1998, including on the famed Champs-Élysées.
“To be around 1.5 million people taking the streets, I will never forget that,” Zidane said. “It gives me goosebumps every time I talk about it.”
Zidane scored the first two goals in France’s 3-0 win over Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final. That match was held at the then-new Stade de France in Saint-Denis, just north of Paris.
The Paris 2024 bid lists Stade de France as its Olympic Stadium, which would host Opening and Closing Ceremonies and track and field.
That’s the same plan as Paris had for 2008 and 2012, when it lost to Beijing and London, respectively, when Zidane was also a Paris Olympic bid ambassador.
“I was involved in several bids, but this one stands out,” Zidane said in this week’s video.
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