Coach Willy Sagnol on Georgia's historic qualification and their EURO goals
Saturday, June 8, 2024
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"One of my sons is, I believe, the biggest Cristiano Ronaldo fan on earth," said Sagnol as Georgia prepare to face Portugal, Türkiye and Czechia in their first EURO finals.
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A decorated defender for St-Étienne, Monaco and Bayern München, Willy Sagnol took permanent coaching roles with France's Under-21 side and Bordeaux before stepping into the Georgia dug-out in 2021.
The 47-year-old won 58 caps for France, reached the 2006 World Cup final and played in two UEFA European Championships – a competition none of his Georgia players have participated in. Sagnol spoke to UEFA.com about their landmark qualification, how the team has changed during his tenure and their UEFA EURO 2024 Group F opponents.
On qualifying for the finals
We've achieved something important together, and the players will realise that when they get together with their families and friends and return to the outside world. More importantly, we should take it as a reward for this federation. It's not the biggest European federation but they try to work hard and do things well; they try to develop younger generations.
I hope that taking part in the EURO will bring both the federation and the nation of Georgia an experience that will spur us on to new feats in the future. The goal is for everyone – the players, staff and federation – to get experience under their belt in this wonderful tournament.
On what has changed since his appointment
When I took charge it was a difficult period as we were in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, not to mention the fact that Georgia had just been knocked out by North Macedonia in the [UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying] play-offs back in November 2020. So we needed to start building up again, and heal our minds and hearts too because it was a major disappointment. It was as if a dream had ended. It took time.
We developed the players' and everyone's perspective on football. We needed to change things round a little bit, to make everything a bit more in line with the top-level requirements. The players have been fantastic in this regard. They've been working for two or three years now, changing many things. Some of them have even changed everything in their way of approaching football. This is a reward for those lads too, as they've believed [in this goal] for a while now.
On Georgia's group at the finals
One of my sons is, I believe, the biggest Cristiano Ronaldo fan on earth. So I know that coming up against Portugal makes my son happy and that's awesome as a dad. It's going to be a very tough group, though, as Portugal are a European powerhouse.
Türkiye have been putting in outstanding work in the last few years, with new players coming in who are young and very talented. As for Czechia, they've had great players throughout history and have taken part in many tournaments.
And finally, us, Georgia. Somewhat the wildcard, slipping into this tournament rather unnoticed. What's certain is that whether we're playing Portugal, Czechia or Türkiye, we will never give up and give everything we have.
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