Fifty flying hours and 32 thousand kilometers for the French Cup match. Show the love of Tahiti football heroes

The kilometers that separate Tahiti from Trellisac are 15883. The fact that you put it this way says little, in fact nothing. Useless information for most people. However, those kilometers represent a record and a sports but not only. These are the ones that AS Vénus, a football club located on the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia, traveled to challenge Trélissac FC in the seventh round of the French Cup. When also counting back home, AS Vénus has traveled some 32 thousand kilometers, which is roughly fifty flying hours. Not a bad trip. However, the mechanism of the French Cup is: teams from Polynesia as well as from Reunion Islands, French Guiana, Martinique and Corsica enter the draw. The French border, which goes in this way from the Alps to the Amazon, passing through the West Indies and the seas off the coasts of Africa and Oceania. With over 8000 teams competing, the Coupe de France is the biggest tournament in the world. The FA Cup is a long way off even if 736 clubs are vying for the prestigious trophy.

All because these regions around the world are still part of France. Polynesia, which is where AS Vénus comes from, is technically an offshore group of France and includes more than 100 islands in the South Pacific. Its capital, Papeete, and its black and white sandy beaches are one of the most sought after destinations.Tourists from all over the world. In terms of football, Tahiti has its own federation linked to FIFA and the Oceania Football Confederation, the governing body for football in Oceania. The national team of “Iron Warriors”, as the red and white players who represent their country are nicknamed, debuted in 1952, when they drew with New Zealand (2-2). It also has a record: a 30-0 victory over the Cook Islands at Papeete in 1971. A regular tournament is held in Tahiti, the Vini Division I, with twelve teams competing. Among them is AS Vénus, the Mahina club where the Stade Municipal is located. The club also has a partnership with Saint-Etienne and was able to reach the Coupe de France by winning the Polynesian Cup.

After arriving in Toulouse at the end of October, AS Venus also played two friendlies to better prepare for the cup match against Trélissac, the Dordogne club that plays in the “National 2”, the fourth level of French football. “Trélissac is a great opportunity for us, but nothing is impossible. The most important thing is to enjoy football, your passions, travel and progress. We come to qualify, but above all for the human adventure.” It is written on the home page of the official website of the Polynesian Club on the eve of the match. AS Vénus’ previous participation in the French Cup was on November 17, 2019: Venusians were eliminated by Racing Besançon with a dry 4-1 score.

For the game played last night, big crowd in Polynesia: At 8am local time everyone is in front of the TV for a live broadcast on Polynesian Channel One with live photos also on Facebook. Eventually Venus was defeated and wiped out. While they did not unite, Venusian lost 2-0, conceding one goal at the right time. Trelissac was in his fourth match in the French Cup against an outside team. In 2001, he also eliminated AS Dragon. Thus vanishes the Tahitian project. Unlike the club that represents in the cup the French province of Mayotte, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and the coast of Mozambique. Jomo de Mezoisia defeated CS Bledran in Brittany in Saint-Brieuc, 1-5. An epic victory for Mayotte football.

In the history of the French Cup, there are also other companies that have become legends. In 1989, French Guiana club Le Gildar de Coro reached the round of 32. In the 2019/20 edition, JS Saint-Péroise of the Reunion Islands reached 32 miles, beating Chamois Niort in the previous round, at the time in League Two.

Far away worlds intersect and find themselves around a teacup. It is football without borders, as he travels through time even before the borders. So what do those 15,883 kilometers that AS Vénus boys will now face want to go home?