Occitània

The spoken dialects of Occitan are centuries older and appeared as soon as the 8th century, at least, revealed in toponyms or in Occitanized words left in Latin manuscripts, for instance. Occitan is a separate Romance language, also called langue d'oc. The language is disseminated over a wide area encompassing the whole south of France, Monaco, Spain´s Val d´Aran and Italy´s Occitan Valleys. Collectively, these regions are sometimes reffered to unofficially as Occitania, the Occitania area covers more than 190 000 km². According to the 1999 census, there are 610,000 native speakers and another million persons with some exposure to the language. However, in France, Occitan is still not recognized as an official language, as the status of French has been constitutionally protected since 1992, and Occitan activists want the French government to adopt Occitan as the second official language for seven regions representing the South of France.

The Occitans at Europeada

In 2008 the Occitan National team was eliminated in the quarterfinal, in 2012 optains the fifth place.

The squad by the Europeada 2016

The players are selected from teams that played France non-professional leagues in the area around Bordeaux, Toulouse, Montpellier, one player is italian-occitan from Dronero (Italy). The clubs could be like AS Béziers, US Colomiers, FC Sète, US Le Pontet, Pau FC, Rodez AF, Tarbes PF, ES Paulhan-Pézenas, US Lège Cap Ferret, Jeunesse Villenavaise, RCO Agathois, Olympique d'Alès, AS Fabrègues, Auch Football ecc.

Goal: Rémi Bilhere (Blagnac FC), Damien Graves (Auch Football)
Defense: Nicolas Touron (ESC Montferrier - RCO Agde), Camille Boudet (AS Béziers), Benoit Soro (ESC Montferrier), Loïc Belhadj (CE Palavas), Mathieu Irigoyemborde (Castelnau CFC), Mattéo Halbin (RCO Agde), Pierre Barremaecker (FC Sète 34), Sylvain Blaise
Midfield: Nabil Moussi (St Alban AFC), Bastien Cantier (AS Montarnaud), Ronald Rodas (TOAC - Auch Football), Brice Martinez (ASP Magalas - ESP Pézenas), Julien Cantier (AS Montarnaud), Julien Déat (St Alban AFC), Giovanni Giraudo (ASD Fossano Calcio - Italy)
Attack: Boris Massaré (Brabrand IF - Denmark), Guillaume Lafuente (AS Fabrègues), Mickaël Bertini (SC Vinon Durance), Quentin Chalut Natal (FC Sète 34), Nicolas Desachy

Nicolas Desachy (President), Didier Amiel (Coach), Paul Walcker (Physiotherapist), José Olacia (Chef Cuisine)

Information in occitan language:

L’occitan o lenga d’òc es una lenga romanica parlada en Occitània, çò es: dins lo tèrç sud de França (siá dins 9 regions o 39 departaments de l’Estat francés), a Mónegue, dins las Valadas Occitanas en Itàlia (e mai dins la localitat de La Gàrdia en Calàbria) e dins la Val d’Aran, qu’aparten politicament al Principat de Catalonha. L’occitan coneguèt son epòca daurada entre los sègles XI e XIII gràcias a sa literatura e subretot las composicions dels trobadors que coneguèron de succès per tota Euròpa. Es una lenga fòrça similara al catalan.
Occitània es un espaci situat entre mar Grana (l’ocean Atlantic tanben apelat peugue en gascon) e mar Nòstra (la mar Mediterranèa), dels Aups e del Massís Central als Pirenèus, en Euròpa Occidentala. Son clima es temperat. Sa populacion es de 16 366 984 abitants. Sa superfícia es d’aperaquí 190 000 o 200 000 km2.