Espaly v. Paris: It's cup time!
We look ahead to Wednesday's Coupe de France Round of 32 tie against FC Espaly.
COUPE DE FRance HISTORY
FC Espaly reached the 7th round in 2015 and 2023, so getting to the Round of 32 marks their best-ever run. They reached the 8th round by beating AF Biars Bretenoux (R1, 1-0), and then progressed thanks to a 3-0 defeat of USE Couzeix-Chaptelat (R2, 0-3). In the Round of 32, they faced professional third-tier outfit Dijon FCO, winning 4-3 after a penalty shoot-out.
So it's a fifth-tier team taking on the Coupe de France's record winners with 15 trophy lifts in 20 finals. The most recent came in Lille last season with a 2-1 defeat of Olympique Lyonnais, and after seeing off Lens in the previous round (1-1, 4-3 on pens.), the Rouge-et-Bleu have the famous trophy in their sights again.
THE STATS
the opponent
Founded in 1967, FC Espaly has gone through a number of changes across various divisions, earning promotion to the fifth tier of French football for the first time after the 2022-23 season. Fifth in their first campaign at that level, they have struggled more this term and are currently 12th with 13 points from 12 games. In their last outing before the cup tie, they drew 1-1 with FC Bourgoin-Jallieu, who now face OL in the Coupe de France. No doubt they both already had one eye on their big cup ties...