Revealing a very French love affair with words, over 50,000 applied to participate in the event, a world first, in which hopefuls attempt to faithfully and without error transcribe a text read to them.

Over 5,000 applicants aged 10-90 were chosen to participate in three sessions led by novelist Rachid Santaki.

With 1,779 desks laid out on Paris' most famous boulevard in each session, organisers had sought to break the world record for a dictation spelling competition.

In the first round, an excerpt of La Mule du Pape by renowned French writer Alphonse Daudet was read by journalist Augustin Trapenard, of Libraries Without Borders.

Silence fell when the first session started, but for 10-year-old Samson, the dictation was "too fast". He gave up.

In his final year of primary school, top student Antoine attended with his father and, despite being a star pupil, he had struggled to fill his page.

"It was impossible! The dictation was for adults," he said.

His father Adrien Blind, 42, was equally relieved when the session wrapped, saying he "was in a state of stress and worry".

But 65-year-old retiree Touria Zerhouni was more upbeat.

"I only made two mistakes! I expected it to be much harder," she said.

The competition went beyond the French classics, with a sport themed round read by rugby player Pierre Rabadan, and another with a contemporary flavour read by writer and journalist Katherine Pancol.

Marc-Antoine Jamet, president of the Champs-Elysees Committee which hosted the dictation during , said the event went beyond spelling.

"Dictation helps us to live together. It's unifying," he said.

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Nationalism and populism are on the rise in the Balkan nation, where many remain strongly Russophile despite Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The immense 1,110-square-metre flag, meant to symbolise Bulgaria's territory of 111,000 square kilometres, was hoisted up the record-breaking 111-metre (364-foot) pole last week in a forest meadow in the Rhodope mountains.

With it Bulgaria takes the flagpole crown from Finland -- which has a 100-metre one -- though it does not nearly touch the heights of some outside Europe which are almost twice as high.

"This won't make Bulgarians richer but it will raise people's spirits," said Simeon Karakolev, 45, the organiser of an historic annual folk festival at Rozhen, whose foundation is behind the project.

Karakolev raised 500,000 euros ($560,000) in donations for the pole in a campaign embraced by Bulgaria's pro-Russian President Rumen Radev.

Local media said that a number of public companies were approached on Radev's behalf to donate money for the mast on the mountain meadow where the festival is held.

- Marred by controversy -

The campaign was widely mocked on the social media with one meme depicting the president swinging on the pole going viral, while many said a country wracked with high emigration and a crumbling health system had more urgent concerns than collecting funds for a massive flag mast.

Political scientist Ognyan Minchev lamented how patriotism had been hijacked by "leaders who measure national pride by the height of a flag mast... quasi-nationalists dominated by Russian propaganda."

A recent Open Society Foundation study found Bulgaria was among the EU countries most susceptible to Russian propaganda and disinformation.

The concrete poured for the flagpole's foundations on the pristine mountain meadows, and alleged irregularities with its permits, also sparked calls from environmentalists to ban it.

A petition against it collected thousands of signatures.

Karakolev said this was "undeserved hate" and thanked authorities for not "backing down to pressure as checks showed everything is perfectly legal."

Radev slammed "dishonourable attempts to denigrate and break this initiative" as he and Karakolev inaugurated the structure with shouts of "Long live Bulgaria!"

Several thousand people of all ages, many in national costumes, gathered for the ceremony ahead of the three-day annual festival, taking the chance to touch the gigantic flag before it went up.

"Yes, some people don't like it... (but) there are flags in every country. They are one of the symbols of a nation," said reserve army colonel Dimitar Mitev, 69, adding that he hoped this initiative would boost patriotism.

Others were less positive.

"I felt unwell when I saw this rod sticking out of the ground in the middle of the meadows and the surrounding forests. This is human interference in nature," business consultant Sofia Botusharova, 38, from the nearby town of Chepelare told AFP.

Still, thousands of phone screens lit up the night as the cheering crowd waited for the flag to be hoisted. But when the big moment came there was disappointment as the lack of a breeze left it hanging listlessly from the pole.

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Unlike the Leagues Cup, which Messi won with Miami last month, the title up for grabs at DRV PNK Stadium is one with a long and rich history, albeit one little known outside of American soccer circles.

The U.S. Open Cup, which began in 1914, is the oldest tournament in the American soccer landscape having managed to survive while all manner of leagues and clubs have vanished around it.

For decades, the competition was stuck in relative obscurity with semi-professional and amateur teams playing in front of a few hundred die-hard fans.

In the early years, the competition was dominated by Bethlehem Steel, backed by the factory in Pennsylvania, who won four of the first six editions.

The club were typical of that early era of the game in the United States when factory teams from northern industrial cities came close to establishing the game as the country's working class sport.

Attempts to create a stable professional league collapsed and often the clubs disappeared with them.

But as internal disputes took hold and gridiron American football established itself, the sport and the Cup became the preserve of ethnic-based immigrant teams.

After World War Two, the champions included teams such as New York German–Hungarian, Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals, New York's Greek-American, Maccabee Los Angeles and Brooklyn Italians.

When during the Pele-inspired, short-lived soccer boom in the 1970s, his New York Cosmos and other NASL teams opted against playing in the cup.

Similar in format to England's FA Cup or Spain's Copa del Rey, the competition is organised by the U.S. Soccer Federation.

Amateur clubs qualify for the main draw through regional qualifiers with Major League Soccer clubs joining from the third round.

With no promotion or relegation in American soccer, the Open Cup is the only chance for teams from lower division leagues such as USL and NPSL to face top flight clubs.

As with other such competitions, upset wins by underdogs are part of the appeal.

Last season, Sacramento Republic from the second-tier USL Championship, went all the way to the final after beating three MLS opponents including the Los Angeles Galaxy.

In the final, Sacramento fell to Orlando City who maintained MLS teams' record of winning every edition of the Cup since the now defunct Rochester Raging Rhinos, of the old A-League, won in 1999.

The sight of MLS teams battling against lower league opponents in small venues, far more rudimentary than the modern stadiums that are home to most top flight clubs, adds to the charm of the competition for many fans.

- Romance -

But MLS commissioner Don Garber is not one of those to get caught up in the 'romance' of the Cup.

"It's just not the proper reflection of what soccer in America at the professional level needs to be," Garber said in May, when asked about the low television ratings for the competition.

"I would say that they're not games that we would want our product to be shown to a large audience. So frankly, I'm not all that disappointed that the audience is small," he added.

But the audience for Wednesday's final will be anything but small.

Thanks to Messi, the final will be broadcast around the world with CBS Sports and Telemundo in the United States promoting the match heavily.

Messi's involvement, however, remains in doubt with the Argentine facing a late fitness test before the game, having missed Miami's MLS game at Orlando on Sunday.

Watching in the stands will be Houston's general manager Pat Onstad, who knows all about the history of the Cup, having been goalkeeper for the Raging Rhinos in their upset win in the 1999 final against MLS's Colorado Rapids.

"That was a special run (but) it was a different time," Onstad told CBS Sports of the 1999 final, played in front of 4,555 fans in Columbus, Ohio.

"From a personal standpoint I thought I would get to a lot of these but I haven't been to a U.S. Open Cup final since 1999, it's been a long time," he said.

Whether Houston or Messi's Miami have their name engraved on the old Dewar Challenge Trophy, three days later, the second round of qualifying for next year's competition gets under way.

The history is never far away -- battling among the raft of new clubs trying to make their mark, is the Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals, four-times champions in the 1960s.

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Contestants fight under bright studio lights with a cheering audience as opponents push down the other person's arm in the Pro Panja League (PPL) at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi Stadium.

The Indian Arm Wrestling Federation launched in 1977, but the sport, known as "panja" in India, has been given new lease of life by league owners and Bollywood acting couple Parvin Dabas and Preeti Jhangiani.

"Our athletes are literally sons and daughters of our soil. Somebody is a government servant, a gym trainer, somebody is a mechanic," Dabas told AFP.

"They come from all walks of life and come from small-town India, and that's what we love about it, that's what the audience is getting attracted by."

Arm wrestler Shaikh Tawheed worked as a stone mason, motorbike mechanic and gym cleaner before finding PPL fame in the 90 kilogram category.

A charming smile on his well-sculpted body adds to the 23-year-old Tawheed's appeal as he defeats opponents in a quick strike -- and then celebrates by blowing kisses to his fans.

"It's a dream living in fancy hotels, having good food, and some money," Tawheed told AFP, adding he had earned around 75,000 rupees ($900) during the competition period so far, a 10-fold jump on his previous earnings.

"I couldn't have asked for more".

- 'Power in their hands' -

The six teams have to include men, women and people with disabilities -- including athletes who use wheelchairs with impressive upper-body strength -- with the winning team getting two million rupees ($24,000).

Launched in 2020 with some exhibition matches and tournaments, this is the first league season to be shown live on Sony Sports Network in India and Willow TV in the United States between July 28 and August 13.

The top four teams will play in the semi-finals and the winners will clash in the final on Sunday.

Sylvester Stallone's 1987 film "Over the Top" made arm wrestling popular around the globe but the ancient sport in India remains rooted in Hindu mythology and is widely popular -- making Tawheed a local star.

Tawheed has moved from a one-room rented house in his home city of Aurangabad in Maharashtra state, and bought his own home.

"The fame I got from arm wrestling helped me in my career as a gym trainer which in turn got me the cash," he said.

"Pro Panja has changed arm wrestling," he said. "We travel in flights in contrast to moving in unreserved train coaches for tournaments."

League owners are confident of the growing popularity of arm wrestling after the success of Indian sports leagues including the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), which has made stars out of humble villagers.

Among the athletes is also 38-year-old mother Farheen Dehalvi, who went from participating in local competitions in the state of Madhya Pradesh to taking down her opponents in a bright-coloured team jersey in front of a large TV audience.

Decades of cleaning, cooking and household chores left Dehalvi with powerful arms -- and she has put them to good use.

"Girls who stay at home including housewives are more powerful because they work and have power in their hands," said Dehalvi, a part-time teacher and mother to a 17-year-old son.

- Olympic dreams -

Dehalvi, who competes in the 65+ kilogram women's category, won her opening match by defeating a 19-year-old, winning on points over several wrestles.

"I went to see an arm-wrestling match in my district and people urged me play the sport as they thought I am powerful," Dehalvi told AFP.

"In our region daughter-in-laws are not allowed to step out of their homes, but my husband backed me to display my power in the sport. And here I am."

Her success has inspired others, she said. Two gyms have opened in her village after her league entry and girls have started working out.

"It was tough juggling between household duties and pursuing the sport, but I kept my hopes high," Dehalvi said.

"People watch me on TV back home and it has inspired them to go to the gyms and I tell them to come to Pro Panja".

Future PPL seasons could witness a player auction, like the hugely successful Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 cricket tournament, which has spawned the growth of other sports leagues.

The PPL, like IPL, boasts of foreign coaches for all six teams -- mostly from Kazakhstan, where arm wrestling is widely popular.

"There are lot of people in India, there are lot of people in Kazakhstan," seven-time world champion and PPL coach Yerkin Alimzhanov told AFP. "From both sides we can try to get the game to the Olympics".

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At the Meow Cat Cafe which opened this week in Gaza City, owner Nehma Maabad set out food for a clowder of kittens.

"Cats, for me, are a refuge that relieves me of psychological stress. So I thought of creating a project that combines serving people with something to cheer them up," said the 50-year-old.

Part of the space is kitted out with wooden platforms covered in astroturf for the cats to clamber onto, while feline murals and portraits adorn the walls.

Meow is part of a growing global trend of cat cafes, but the circumstances in Gaza are unique.

The territory has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2007 and scars of repeated wars fought between Palestinian militants and Israel are visible across the city.

Customers pay nearly 10 shekels ($2.65) per hour to play with the cats, which Maabad said covers their food as well as costly vet bills.

Visiting the cafe, Manar Abu Samra said it was reasonably priced and she had told her friends and sisters about the new venture.

"The quality of cats here is beautiful and sweet, so it's a wonderful idea -- despite its strangeness to society -- and when I heard about it I felt happy," she said.

Pets are rare in Gaza although cats are ever-present, particularly around the port or fishmongers as they try to paw away some scraps.

Maabad said she had cats at home to bring to Meow, while others came from friends.

"The idea of the cafe was to have something nice with a cup of coffee," she said.

"A cat that you play with and it makes you smile and forget the pressures of life."

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Fashion innovator Calvin Wong has developed the Interactive Design Assistant for Fashion (AiDA) -- the world's first designer-led AI system.

It uses image-recognition technology to speed up the time it takes for a design to go from a first sketch to the catwalk.

"Designers have their fabric prints, patterns, colour tones, initial sketches and they upload the images," Wong told AFP.

"Then our AI system can recognise those design elements and come up with more proposals for designers to refine and modify their original design."

Wong said AiDA's particular strength was its ability to present "all the possible combinations" for a designer to consider, something he said was impossible in the current design process.

An exhibition at Hong Kong's M+ Museum in December featured collections by 14 designers developed using the tool.

But Wong stressed it was about "facilitating designers inspiration" not "using AI to take over a designers job, to take over their creativity".

"We must treasure the designer's original creativity," he added.

Wong heads up the Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence in Design (AidLab), a collaboration between Britain's Royal College of Art (RCA) and Hong Kong Polytechnic University where he is a professor in fashion.

- 'Transformational'

RCA vice chancellor Naren Barfield predicted the impact of AI on the fashion industry would be "transformational".

"The impact is going to be huge from the ideation and conception stage through to prototyping, right the way through to manufacture, distribution and then ultimately recycling," he said.

So-called personalisation is already being used to improve customer experience with better product recommendations and more effective searches, helping shoppers find what they want quickly and easily.

But as the technology evolves so too is the range of highly specialised tools being developed.

AiDA was just one of the AidLab projects being showcased in the British capital ahead of London Fashion Week, which started on Friday.

Others included the Neo Couture project which aims to use advanced technologies to digitally preserve the specialised skills and techniques used by couturiers.

With the UK fashion industry facing a skills shortage, it is creating an AI-assisted training system to help teach couture skills.

Another project aims to increase sustainability to reduce the estimated 92 million tonnes of clothing that ends up in landfill each year.

One potential use of the AI Loupe project is to help designers overcome the problems of using so-called dead stock fabric.

Designers can photograph leftover fabric and then use the tool to get the missing details to assess its suitability for their designs.

"It uses the camera as your index, the material is the QR code that brings the information," said project researcher Chipp Jansen.

- Retain control -

The future of AI in fashion design, however, is not clear cut.

New York brand Collina Strada's founder Hillary Taymour this week admitted that she and her team used AI image generator Midjourney to create the collection they showed at New York Fashion Week.

Although Taymour only used images of the brand's own past looks to help generate its Spring/Summer 2024 collection, looming legal issues could keep AI-generated clothes off the catwalks for now.

"In terms of fashion designed by AI, I would expect to hear from designers that there are questions of intellectual property rights," said Rebecca Lewin, a senior curator at London's Design Museum.

"Because whatever comes back will have been scraped from published images and to get that regulated will need a lot of work."

The RCA's Barfield said the area would be tricky but he expected it to be resolved through test cases and legislation.

"I don't know how fast (AI) will be transformational but if it gives companies competitive advantage I think they'll invest and take it up quickly," he said.

The only thing currently holding companies back was the "massive investment" in infrastructure required, he said.

"But once they've done that they can take the plunge then they will be making savings on material waste and productivity," he added.

As for designers' fears that it might become a substitute for the human creative process, he said the key was who controlled the decision making.

Using a "genetic algorithm" where you started with one design and used the software to generate successive ones the computer could produce 1,000 varying looks, something that might take weeks to draw, he said.

On the other hand if the designer retained control AI could offer huge benefits by hugely speeding up the process "without necessarily making the decisions for them", he added.

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The picturesque eastern city home to China's best-known porcelain has seen an influx of young professionals seeking to learn an ancient art taught there for more than a thousand years.

Times are tough for young people in China, with youth unemployment at record highs, sluggish economic growth and, for many, the opportunities their parents' generation enjoyed are simply not attainable.

But in Jingdezhen they find something different: low rent, a slower pace of life and a proximity to nature in a city of just 1.6 million inhabitants, very small by Chinese standards.

From her one-bedroom apartment on the seventh floor, He Yun, a 28-year-old illustrator, enjoys a panoramic view of the surrounding green hills for just 500 yuan ($68) a month.

She arrived in Jingdezhen in June after being laid off and found a place where she didn't feel "any pressure".

"I came because on social media everyone was saying that it was a great place for craft fans, like me, and that there was a scent of freedom," she said.

"When I lost my job, I stayed at home and got depressed. But once I arrived here, I found that it's super easy to make friends."

"No more need to set the alarm in the morning," she smiled.

"I have zero pressure now!"

- 'Looking for meaning' -

A typical day for He starts with a laid-back breakfast, before heading to a workshop to make her ceramic candle holders and necklaces, which are then fired in one of the city's many kilns.

"At the end of the afternoon, we go to the surrounding villages and swim in the streams to relax," she said.

"I put my work on Xiaohongshu" -- a Chinese app similar to Instagram -- "where people contact me to buy. But we mainly sell at the market," she said.

Between trendy cafes, boutiques and stands offer glasses, bowls, cups, teapots, plates, necklaces or earrings.

Chen Jia, 24 with dyed red hair, makes feminist pendants in the shape of sanitary napkins.

A music graduate who arrived in June, her first jobs as a piano teacher and in a milk tea shop and cafe weren't to her liking.

"I am looking for meaning in my life," she said.

"Many young people today no longer want to clock in at work at a fixed time."

China's transformative economic rise was built on the backs of a growing middle class, who were promised they could enjoy the trappings of prosperity and give their children a better life if they worked hard enough.

But the country's millennials and Gen Z have faced altogether different prospects: youth unemployment has reached a record level, exceeding 20 percent according to official figures, and pay is low.

It's in that context that the "tangping" counterculture has thrived.

Literally meaning "lying flat", it's come to represent a general rejection of society's expectations, giving up a great career and money to concentrate on a simple life and pleasures.

And Jingdezhen has become a haven for those seeking just that.

At the Dashu pottery school, around 20 students work with clay on their pottery wheels or chat as they sip iced lattes. Training costs 4,500 yuan a month ($617), a very affordable price.

"Many young people cannot find work" explained the 39-year-old director who calls herself Anna.

"They come here to reduce their anxiety."

"Ceramics are very accessible. In two weeks, they can produce simple works and sell them at markets."

- 'New life' -

One of them, Guo Yiyang, 27, resigned in March from a well-paid job as a computer programmer.

After working overtime for years, he said he wanted to "take a breather".

"In big cities... you just work. You don't have your own life," he said, adding he "never again" sees himself working that way.

"The desire for another way of life" is also what motivated Xiao Fei, 27, a former interior designer who resigned and came to Jingdezhen in June.

"I didn't have time for myself," she said. "I came home tired and I didn't want to talk to others."

"I feel happier, more free and I meet people who have the same ideals."

According to Chinese media, 30,000 young urbanites lived in Jingdezhen in 2022.

Few stay long-term but Xiao already knows that she doesn't want to go back.

"After tasting this new life, I don't want to go back to an office job at all."

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The Democrat took a presidential tone as he urged an end to the "poisonous atmosphere" in Washington and announced a major speech on aid for Ukraine.

It capped a week during which he rolled out a series of voter-friendly announcements on health care and student debt, while his rivals were grabbing unwanted headlines with their brutal infighting.

The contrast could not have been clearer with Republicans, whose ability to legislate has been thrown into turmoil after hardliners ousted their own House speaker Kevin McCarthy.

The 80-year-old Biden, who is battling low approval ratings ahead of next year's US presidential election, also stayed silent on his likely 2024 rival Donald Trump's appearance in court in New York in a fraud case.

"Biden being in the background is a very good strategy," Robert Rowland, a political communication expert at the University of Kansas, told AFP.

"He should demonstrate he is a strong president and let the Republican bloodbath unfold. He cannot do anything about it, he might as well let the Democrats benefit from it."

- 'Split screen' -

The strategy plays into the White House's "split screen strategy" to highlight the contrast with the Republicans -- often literally using side-by-side images on social media.

That also involves using the power and symbolism of the presidency, with Biden giving televised remarks from behind a lectern in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.

Biden urged squabbling Republicans to work with Democrats on Ukraine and also to avoid the threat of another government shutdown next month, after narrowly averting one at the weekend.

"We need to stop seeing each other as enemies," he said.

Then Biden returned to the policies he hopes will win over voters, announcing a further $9 billion in student debt relief, after the Supreme Court canceled his loan forgiveness program in June.

Biden said drugmakers have agreed to negotiate on reducing prices, a key plank of his bid to cut soaring healthcare costs ahead of elections.

And he hosted a photo-friendly event to celebrate disability legislation featuring US actress Selma Blair, who has multiple sclerosis -- during which her support dog rested its head on the presidential foot.

- 'Always fighting' -

Republicans have noticed the strategy, and are not happy.

"Why is it that Republicans are always fighting among themselves," lamented Trump, whose hardline Republican allies launched the coup against McCarthy.

Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina who is a close Trump ally, said the turmoil means Biden "gets a break and takes the focus and attention away from his many failures in office."

But the strategy is not without risk.

If the US becomes paralyzed by the political chaos, with the House in search of a speaker and a new budget shutdown cliff looming in November, it's unlikely Biden could stay so hands-off.

Voters are already concerned about Biden's age and effectiveness, while his message of economic revival has struggled to cut through.

And Biden was forced to reassure allies this week that US aid to Ukraine would continue, after it was left out of the deal to avoid a shutdown amid hardline Republican opposition.

Biden and the Democrats could now struggle to get a fresh package of assistance for Kyiv through a House convulsed by Republican infighting.

"If they have misread the level of Republican support, the strategy could lead to a failure to get additional funding for Ukraine," said Rowland.

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Maxime Lucu will start for Les Bleus instead of the injured Antoine Dupont with Charles Ollivon leading the side in the absence of the influential scrum-half against Italy in the crucial Rugby World Cup group game.

Shaven-headed half-back Lucu and abrasive flanker Ollivon, both 30, grew up among around 7,000 other habitants in 'Saint-Pee' in the rugby-mad Basque Country, near to the Spanish border and inland from Biarritz and Bayonne, two giants of the sport in France.

They started playing together as youngsters for the local Saint-Pee Union Club whose senior men's team now feature in the ninth tier and includes Maxime's older brother Ximun.

"I didn't really dream of being a professional rugby player back then as it was for other people," Lucu told AFP.

"Saint-Pee was a village, our parents played for the first-team in Federale 3 (the now 7th tier) at best.

"Dreaming of going pro was for those who played for Biarritz or Bayonne.

"Our first dream was to play in the Saint-Pee jersey, like our parents did together," he added.

Ollivon joined Bayonne's academy as a 15-year-old but now plays for Toulon on the Cote d’Azur and was France captain under Fabien Galthie until suffering an injury two years ago.

Lucu joined Bayonne's bitter rivals Biarritz aged 18 before moving to Bordeaux-Begles up the Atlantic coast in 2019.

In July 2022, the pair featured for Les Bleus together for the first time during a two-Test tour in Japan.

It came more than a decade on from lacing up their boots together as children at the Stade Municipale, a stone's throw away from a bakery selling the local delicacy, the Basque Cake, and surrounded by fields filled with sheep raised to make ewes' milk cheese.

"We didn't think at all they would get to the level and it's never happened to the club," Charles' dad Jean-Michel Ollivon told AFP.

"Getting to the professional level is already huge, but then the national team is unthinkable," he added.

- 'Excitement' -

Four months later, the pair from the village on the banks of the Nivelle river, lined up for France against Japan again.

The World Cup hosts strolled past the Brave Blossoms with Ollivon's first-half try, set-up by Lucu, one of the highlights in Toulouse.

"That move, they did it hundreds of times as youngsters," Michel Sein, their junior rugby coach at Saint-Pee, told AFP.

"Seeing it in an international match, it was the high point," he added.

This weekend, Saint-Pee will be on the world's stage with Lucu and Ollivon's France needing to avoid defeat to Italy in Lyon to guarantee a quarter-final spot.

Former World Rugby player of the year Dupont is expected to return from his cheekbone fracture for the knock-outs with France among the favourites to lift the Webb Ellis trophy.

"As Charles' friend since a young age, we registered as players for the first time at the same time and now playing a first World Cup game with him as captain and me as a starter, it's an important moment for us," Lucu told reporters this week.

"They're things that matter when you've been friends from a young age.

"I don't want to put too much negative pressure on myself, and make the most of the moment because it's an important moment for me and my career.

"I feel more excitement than the negative pressure," he added.

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On a recent evening in the mountain city of Taif, the Saudi women's national team ran through a one-touch passing drill ahead of a game against Pakistan, the latest in a series of friendlies intended to give the players some much-needed match experience.

The squad only formed two years ago and entered the FIFA rankings in March, at 171st place.

That milestone followed a string of firsts last year, from an inaugural international match against the Seychelles -– a 2-0 win –- to the establishment of a domestic women's premier league and a formal bid to host the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup.

All told, it has been a head-spinning few years for Saudi women who weren't even allowed to attend football matches until January 2018, let alone play at the professional level.

Yet 22-year-old midfielder Layan Jouhari told AFP she and her teammates were measuring their progress "one step at a time", even as they nurture ambitious long-term goals like playing at the World Cup one day.

"I watched the previous World Cup before this just out of curiosity and interest, but this year's World Cup was different," Jouhari said.

"I watched it with a different perspective, like these are now my opponents."

- Reforms and scepticism -

The eager Saudi players are standard-bearers for broader changes afoot in Saudi Arabia, a conservative petro-state trying to open up to the world while shifting away from fossil fuels.

In recent years, key restrictions that made the kingdom a magnet for criticism from women's rights activists have been lifted, although critics argue that legal discrimination remains in place in areas like divorce and child custody, and that women are frequently ensnared in an ongoing crackdown on dissent.

A FIFA+ documentary released last month tracks how the national team has seized on new freedoms, contrasting the hostility its members once received for pursuing a "masculine" sport with today's new era of deep-pocketed government support.

A press release for the film also highlights fans of the team outside Saudi Arabia, notably a social media post from the Pele Foundation describing its first FIFA match as "a historic day not only for you, but for everyone who loves football".

But not everyone is keen to fully embrace the Saudi football project.

Talks this year about the Saudi tourism board sponsoring the World Cup drew criticism from co-hosts New Zealand and Australia as well as US star Alex Morgan before FIFA announced in March no deal had been reached.

Monika Staab, the first coach of the Saudi national team who is now technical director, told AFP that critics would benefit from seeing the changes in Saudi Arabia up close.

"Someone who is not knowing what is happening here, I always recommend, come here to Saudi, have a look -– witness yourself what is happening," she said.

- On a mission -

For many national team players, football was a fact of life well before Saudi Arabia began championing women's sports under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030 reform agenda.

"Football has been around in my family for as long as I remember. My older sisters used to play football and they made me fall in love with the game," said Bayan Sadagah, the 28-year-old team captain.

The new opportunities, however, have led her to consider quitting her day job as a nurse so she can focus on "one path".

The influx of international stars to the men's game gives added inspiration.

Jouhari described obsessing over videos of French star N'Golo Kante as a girl.

Now they are both midfielders for the club team Ittihad -- Kante on the men's side, Jouhari on the women's -- and Jouhari can't wait to meet him, though she says she "might lose my words" when it actually happens.

For Staab, who has worked with women's programmes in more than 90 countries, the focus is squarely on what her own players might achieve.

"I'm only interested in women's football because I want women's football to grow, I want women's football to develop -- that is my mission," she said.

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© Agence France-Presse