A football team that traveled more than 13,000 km lost 12-0 in the French Cup

(CNN) — Traveling often brings plenty of rest and relaxation, but for a football club from the small island nation of Martinique, that was probably not the case during their recent trip to northern France.

Golden Lion FC were beaten 12-0 by Ligue 1 side Lille in a Coupe de France match on Saturday, although the subsequent scenes at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy reinforced the adage: “It’s not about luck, It’s about the journey.”

Golden Lion FC comes from the city of Saint-Joseph in the Caribbean country with an estimated population of approximately 396,000 people and, as champions of Martinique, was selected in the French Cup draw along with several other teams from overseas French territories.

According to Reuters, the team began the more than 13,000 km journey on Wednesday with a direct flight to Paris before heading to the northern city of Lille, which lies near the Franco-Belgian border.

Before the match Golden Lion FC fans could be seen around the stadium in good mood, including a trombone, and the players took to the field with enthusiasm.

My helpful supporter of the Golden Lion Ecumenical, you are very good pic.twitter.com/PBvwM8aTDE

– LOSC (@losclive) 6 January 2024

However, Lille didn’t wait long to start celebrating the goal, as Yusuf Yazic opened the scoring in the 11th minute. The Golden Lions kept the match relatively competitive until the 25th minute, when Les Dogues (Lille) forward, Jonathan David, scored his first of the night.

Yusuf Yazic scored his team’s first goal against Golden Lion FC. (Samir al-Doumi/AFP/Getty Images)

Kosovo winger Aidan Zhegrova scored a hat-trick nine minutes into the first half and David and Yazic both scored another goal to make the score 7–0 at half-time.

The second half was not much better on the pitch, as Les Dogues scored another five goals, including David, who completed his hat-trick, making the score 12–0 at the end of the match, Lille’s biggest ever win. Club history.

However, despite the huge defeat, the Golden Lion players and fans could be seen taking full advantage of it and enjoying the occasion as it was their team’s rare, possibly once in a lifetime, clash against top five French teams. This is a one-time match.

Jonathan David (right) celebrates one of his goals with fellow hat-trick hero Aidan Zegrova. (Johnny Fidelin/Icon Sport/Getty Images)

After the match, Lille’s players provided a guard of honor to the Golden Lion team as they left the field smiling and proud of their effort.

Lille coach Paulo Fonseca said after the match that it was necessary to respect both the Martinique team and its fans and give maximum effort.

“We played a committed game, that was the main objective. We respect our opponents and fans. It was important to play the game with intensity, Fonseca said. “The most important thing was to win and qualify. Today we did a lot of good things, we applied a lot of pressure and created a lot of chances. “We were very professional.”

While the score will be something Lille fans will never forget, the Golden Lion team and its supporters will certainly remember the trip to (and back from) Northern France forever.