First year Dingo Ludo Barrat has officially been selected in the 2024 French National squad for this year's Transatlantic Cup to be held here in Toronto this August.
Ludo is no stranger to these international tournaments, with this year's being his fourth time representing his country on the big stage.
His first tournament with the French Team was back in 2017 where he competed in the AFL International Cup in Melbourne at the young age of 21. Since then Ludo has played int he 2018 Euro Cup in Ireland, 2019 Euro Cup in France (9 players) and the 2022 Euro Championship (18 players) in Croatia.
When asked what he is looking forward to the most about this year's Transatlantic Cup, Ludo replied, "I’m really looking forward to playing against teams from outside of Europe as it doesn’t happen often. I haven’t played any team outside of Europe since my first tournament back in 2017, and that was 7 years ago."
"I can’t wait to see how the teams from other continents have improved since 2017. We improved a lot in France and I’m sure it’s the same in USA and Canada. I was also surprised to see that Columbia has a team, so really excited to play them too"
Ludo added, "I am also really excited to line up against Matteo, my Dingos teammate."
Given it is not the first time Ludo has represented France, we asked what it meant to him to head to his fourth international tournament, "I feel so lucky, so grateful, every time I get to pull on my national jersey. It always means a lot to play for France, it’s such an honor for me."
"So in every game I want to give everything I have to deserve this jersey and do the best for my country."
The 2024 Transatlantic Cup will be the first AFL-sanctioned international championships since 2017 and comprises of both male and female divisions with teams from Canada, USA, Ireland, Columbia, France & Great Britain competing.
It is expected that around 400 players will participate in the 10-day event, which will be played in a round-robin format, culminating in Grand Finals on Sunday, August 11.
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