Le Tournoi, Caen & Le Havre, 22–26.2.2022

The 2022 Tournoi de France will be the third edition of the tournament, it is an invitational women’s football tournament held annually in France and this year takes place from 16th to 22nd February. Joining Finland and hosts France this year are Brazil and the Netherlands.

Helmarit Squad for Le Tournoi

Le Tournoi 2022

The Helmarit kick of their campaign at 22:10 Finnish time on Wednesday 16.2.2022.

France are the current champions and also won the first edition in 2020, this year’s other sides also featured in the first Tournoi with Netherlands coming second and Brazil fourth.
France will be the favourites with the home advantage and have several players to look out for.

PSG pair Kadi-diatou Diani & Marie-Antoinette Katoto are certainly ones to watch Diani has 16 goals from 67 caps and 23-year-old Katoto has an impressive 19 goals from 23 caps
Vastly experienced Captain Wendie Renard who is a 31-year-old defender also adds goals with a tally of 29 from her 126 caps. Les Blues currently sit top of their World Cup Qualifying group and have scored 37 goals conceding only 2.

Anna Signeul announced the Helmarit squad a week ago, there were no real surprises but Anna Tamminen makes way for Milla-Maj Majasaari as one of the 3 Goal Keepers – Amanda Rantanen, Vilma Koivisto & Heidi Kollanen were added to the squad 2 days later. Linda Sallstrom will be familiar with the surroundings and many of the France players following her time in Paris FC and it would be great to see her add to her record tally of goals for Finland.

On Saturday 19th Feb Helmarit play their second game this time against the Netherlands. Current European champions and 2019 World Cup runners up Most of the Netherlands players are in the Dutch or German leagues with a couple playing in the English WSL and 2 plying their trade in Spain. The Oranje have not lost in 11 games and Arsenal forward Vivianne Miedema (age 25) who has 104 caps and 85 goals is one to watch.

The final games are on 22nd Feb with Finland taking on Brazil. You can’t mention women’s international football without mentioning Brazilian midfielder Marta. She has been named FIFA World Player of the Year six times and has 4 Damallsvenskan titles to her name. Marta is regarded by many as the greatest female player of all time.

Brazil are the dominant side in South American women’s football and currently 7th in the FIFA rankings with France and the Netherlands sitting fourth & fifth respectively. With Helmarit currently sitting 28th on the FIFA ladder sandwiched between Mexico & Portugal these 3 games against sides well established top ten sides will certainly be a test.

Useful Links

• France vs Finland, 16.2 on YLE 2 and YLE Areena https://areena.yle.fi/1-61228977
• Palloliitto > Helmarit https://www.palloliitto.fi/maajoukkueet/helmarit
• Le Tournoi results on Eurosport https://www.eurosport.com/football/tournoi-de-france/2022/calendar-result.shtml
• Tickets on the FFF website https://billetterie.fff.fr/fr