France's 23-man World Cup-winning squad and coaching staff were awarded the Légion d'Honneur - France's top military and civil honour - by President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday.
Even without stepping foot on the football pitch, Les Bleus won another title on Tuesday - the Légion d'Honneur. Just like their counterparts who won the World Cup on home soil 20 years ago, the 23 men who beat the world in Russia last summer attended l'Élysée - the official residence of the French president - to receive their medals from Emmanuel Macron.
Top honour
"You made an entire country proud because you were victorious together," intoned Macron as he bestowed the nation's top honour. "You married individual excellence with an irreproachable sense of the collective."
There was a familiar feeling for France coach Didier Deschamps, just the third man in history to lift the World Cup as a player and as a coach.
Déjà vu
"It's a privilege, as I said 20 years ago when I received this award as a player," explained Deschamps in a recent press conference. "Do we deserve the award for what we have done in sport? Compared to people who saves lives, for example? Well I won't say that we don't deserve it."
The ten players who were in Russia but who weren't called up to Deschamps' most recent squad were all in attendance in Paris, having interrupted their holidays to answer the call from their president.
Back to business
Les Bleus now return to their preparations for their Euro 2020 qualifier against Turkey in Konya at 20:45 CET on Saturday, 8 June.
