In a year, almost everything has changed. On April 12, 2022, the French women’s team faced Slovenia in a World Cup qualifying match. At the time, Les Bleues, led by Corinne Deacon, won 1-0 thanks to Delphine Cascarino at the MMArena stadium in Le Mans. This Tuesday, April 11, 2023, the players of the new coach, Hervé Renard, return to the Sarthe capital to face Canada at the Marie-Marvingt stadium.
No, the city of Le Mans has not acquired a new stadium in a year. The enclosure built in 2011 and with a capacity of 25,000 seats has simply changed its name. Indeed, on June 30, 2022, the Le Mans insurance group decided not to renew the naming contract which had bound it since 2011 with Le Mans Stadium, a subsidiary of Vinci, the stadium concessionaire, and the City of Le Mans represented by its mayor Stéphane Le Foll (PS).
A shortfall for the former resident of Ligue 1, who is now vegetating in National, the third national level, since MMA contributed up to 1.3 million euros per year. Negotiations between the city of Le Mans and MMA were unsuccessful, since the insurance group offered to extend the contract for six months and only put 300,000 euros on the table.
Inaugurated on January 29, 2011 in the presence of Prime Minister François Fillon, former mayor of the city (1983-2001), this stadium at a cost of 102 million euros was to allow Le Mans FC to consolidate its place in Ligue 1. But twelve years later, and after filing for bankruptcy in 2013, the club only played two and a half seasons in Ligue 2.
Marie-Marvingt, “the bride of danger”
At Le Mans, it is therefore the end of an era and of a system. Coming out of the ground, the Grand Stade in the city of Le Mans had paved the way for naming, which was then largely taken up everywhere in France, such as in Marseille with the Orange Vélodrome.
At the end of the contract, Le Mans was quick to erase the letters of the insurer on the walls of the stadium from mid-July 2022. It remained to find a new name for the stadium. After having mentioned those of Le Mans Arena or Le Mans Stadium, named after the concessionaire, the city opted for Marie Marvingt on July 27, 2022, whose initials are of course the same as those of the MMArena.
“At a time when it is necessary to support the influence of women’s sport, on the eve of the Paris Olympic Games and at the time of these important stages of visibility which publicize the Tour de France women and the Euro women’s football, Le Mans is committed to the recognition of women athletes and their talents, ”said the City in a press release. Since then, the new Marie-Marvingt stadium has had a new logo at the start of 2023 and will be officially inaugurated on May 26 during the last day of National between Le Mans and Dunkirk.
By choosing Marie Marvingt, a pioneer of women’s sport, Le Mans has become the first city in France to give the name of a woman to a sports arena with more than 20,000 seats. Born in 1875, Marie Marvingt had a rich life until her death in 1963 at the age of 88. She is notably the first woman to have completed the Tour de France cyclist in 1908. After the refusal of the organizers to see her participate, the one who was nicknamed the “fiancée of danger” made the same route as the men by starting moments after them.
Among the many feats she achieved was crossing the English Channel in 1909, which was a first for a woman. She has dabbled in almost every sport. At her death, she was the most decorated woman in France with 34 medals and decorations.
Journalist Marie Marvingt also disguised herself as a man to spend 47 days in the trenches during the First World War before being unmasked. She then became a nurse and war correspondent. A rich life which today is brought back into full light.