UEFA fined the French Football Federation €10,000 after France’s UEFA Nations League match against Belgium kicked off late on 28 September.
The sock tape issue
The players’ socks carried the wrong coloured tape, and organisers rejected the equipment and required the players to put it right before the start.
Zinedine Zidane and his players arrived on the pitch later than the specified time, delaying the scheduled 8:45pm kick-off by a few minutes.
UEFA’s regulations finding
UEFA judged the incident to be a breach of Article 6.07 of the Nations League regulations. The article requires national federations to enter the necessary information on match equipment via UEFA’s “TIME” platform in the weeks before each fixture.
The Turkey fixture
France won 1-0 against Turkey, and Zidane missed the start of “La Marseillaise”.
Someone forgot the team’s flag before the Turkey fixture, and members of the delegation returned to the dressing room to fetch it.
France’s final matches
According to L’Équipe, the technical staff discussed these errors at an assessment meeting on 6 October.
France’s final two matches are away to Italy before hosting Turkey in Bordeaux. A draw in either match would be enough for France to seal a place in the quarter-finals.
