On July 16th 2018, 300,000 people lined the streets of the Champs-Élysées to celebrate France’s win at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, in Russia 24 hours earlier. In euphoric scenes, as smoke bombs filled the air and firecrackers were let off, the Patrouille de France flew over the Arc de Triomphe streaming the coulors of the tricoloeur behind them.
Later, fans waited patiently outside the Hotel de Crillon, Place de la Concorde in hope of seeing their heroes - a hark to France’s World Cup win, twenty years earlier. They left disappointed. 3,000 police officers were deployed to maintain security, but the whole event passed off without incident.
