The French Soccer Team as a National Brand

Abstract

Nowadays, Media are playing a major role in the football landscape. Most relevant for this type of situation, the most recent example is the crisis of France during the last World Cup. To avoid this there is no better means to have good relations with journalists and opinion leaders. One of the biggest scandal blew up in April 2010 just before the World Cup and the selection. A young lady, named Zahia, told the press that she slept with 3 soccer players : Benzema, Govou and Ribery. "The first one was Karim Benzema. I met him in 2008 in a nightclub. We saw each other again on two or three occasions, but it was confirmed that he never knew my age " The first time she saw Ribery was on his 26th birthday, on the 7th of April of 2009. She confirms that the player did not know that she was a minor.

On the contrary, when she met Govou, she was a major. Big scandal just before the world cup (they were less concentrated than usual). Bad image of France, which was represented by the soccer team (international scandal, especially in Germany). For example, according to France Soir survey, 57% of the French believed that Franck Ribery could no longer represent France during the World Cup