FDJ to back French athletes ahead of Paris 2024

French lottery group FDJ has pledged more than €1m to aid homegrown athletes ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The operator of France's national lottery games has launched its new FDJ Sport Factory initiative and is inviting applications from athletes who require financial assistance leading up to 2024.

The new programme will include 24 athletes, competing in Olympic and Paralympic disciplines, and 30 other young prospects. The athletes will be selected by 2020 ahead of the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing and 2024 Summer Olympics.

The athletes will receive €30,000 per annum in the years leading up to the 2022 and 2024 Games. They will also benefit from mentoring and attendance at an annual seminar on career management.

The 24 athletes will be selected by jury of experts, which will include representatives of French sport and two FDJ Sport Factory ambassadors, former boxer Sarah Ourahmoune and wheelchair tennis player Michaël Jérémiasz.

The group said: “FDJ is reinforcing its historic commitment to top-level sport, in the continuity of coaching young champions led by the group for nearly 30 years.”

FDJ was a supporter of the Paris 2024 bid and the UEFA European Championships in France in 2016.

FDJ has also been co-sponsor of the Groupama-FDJ cycling team since 1997, and sponsor of the FDJ-Nouvelle-Aquitaine-Futuroscope women's cycling team since 2016. FDJ is also a partner of four Ligue 1 clubs – Marseille, Lyon, Nantes and Monaco.