Saturday, May 7, 2022, was marked by the French Cup football final. The showdown took place at the Stade de France, pitting OGC Nice against FC Nantes.
After a little more than 90 minutes of play, the Nantes team secured its ticket to the Europa League. Thousands of Nice fans were torn between pride and disappointment.
The Gym wanted to address an open letter to all its supporters.
“Dear Supporter,
We vibrated, we cried, on Saturday night. Tens of thousands of us, at the Stade de France and on Place Massรฉna.
But before that, we colored the city red and black together. We dreamed, converted our next-door neighbor, our friend on the other side of the world. We talked about nothing but this final for days and days.
We projected ourselves. We played. We lost.
We also saw the ghost of 2006 reappear, with its share of tears, anger, and sorrow. With one notable difference: back then, the Club was not built to find itself at the top and missed the opportunity without being able to convince itself that its destiny was in motion and that it would inevitably be invited back to the celebration. Sixteen years later, the foundations are solid, the project ambitious: at the end of a magnificent run, this French Cup would have arrived as a marker of its progression, as the reward for the work accomplished and no longer as an achievement. The work was not rewarded. Not yet. Not by this path. But tomorrow’s victories are also born from yesterday’s defeats.
Let’s be honest: we all had a bad Sunday. A Sunday without sleep, without appetite, without desire. A Sunday without anything. It’s time to get back in fighting order. To get back up, to move forward again. The season is not over, and we can still open the doors to Europe, through the championship. Europe, a chimera for nearly 20 years in Nice, has become very real in the past decade and is within our reach today as long as the momentum of the season is not broken.
All components of OGC Nice want to sincerely thank everyone who participated in this adventure in the French Cup. And who will continue to walk with us on tomorrow’s paths.
The end of the season is exciting. So is the future.
We, OGC Nice, will get back up. For you and thanks to you.”
