Bordeaux Wins French Champions Trophy in Montreal
On Saturday afternoon in Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, F.C. Girondins de Bordeaux, the champion of France’s Ligue 1, defeated En Avant Guingamp, the first team from the second division to win the French Cup in several decades, by 2-0 in their face-off (figuratively in the capital of Canadian ice hockey) in a meaningful match far from home — the French Champions Trophy.
Bordeaux’s Argentine striker Fernando Cavenaghi scored 38 minutes into the match and Fernando, a midfielder from Brazil, slotted home a free kick by Yoann Gourcuff near the end.
In April 2008, French officials approached an expatriate, Michael Wiesenfeld, the founder of the European Football Group, a New York-based sports marketing agency that specializes in soccer. With little lead time, the project was pushed back to this year, with Montreal, with its large French-speaking population, landing the match. And although Saturday’s game was beamed back to France on TV, Wiesenfeld said his efforts to get FSC to carry the game, at no cost, were rebuffed.
