Page 4 - ExploreFrance

The 2023 Rugby World Cup will take place in France between 8 September
and 28 October. The tournament’s 48 matches will be played out in nine stadiums,
spread among ten host cities (Lille, Lyon, Saint-Étienne, Nice,
Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes, Paris and Saint-Denis) and the 600,000
international visitors expected will be able to enjoy some wonderful socialising,
centred around one big, 51-day party.

France is set to host the 10th edition of the Rugby World Cup, exactly 200 years
after the sport was invented. For it was in 1823 that William Webb-Ellis, a schoolboy
at Rugby School in England, did something that was ‘against the rules’ of football,
by picking up the ball in his hands and running with it.

More than a sporting event, it’s a matter of wanting to build an event that is
different from the rest. Different in the same way that rugby itself is different :
it is a sport that derives its strength from solidarity, sharing, acceptance
of differences, self-denial, collective commitment and respect.

The 2023 Rugby World Cup will go beyond the confines
of sport. It will resonate at societal level, throughout
all the regions and on all the nation’s pitches.

Atout France, the Regional Tourist Boards and
Tourist Offices of the territories and host venues are
working together to offer international fans a stay
that will be as thrilling off the pitch as it is on it.

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