Everything about France National Football Team totally explained
The
French national football team represents the nation of
France in international
football. It is fielded by the
French Football Federation and competes as a member of
UEFA.
France was one of the four European teams that participated at the
inaugural World Cup in 1930. Except for mild success in the 1950s, the French team was a modest competitor from its beginnings until the 1970s. In the 1980s, led by
midfielder and
captain Michel Platini, the team reached semi-finals at both the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, and won the
1984 European Championship.
France then reached an even higher status in international football by being especially successful at the end of the 1990s and in the 2000s; they won the
World Cup as the host nation in
1998, and the
European Football Championship two years later, as well placed second at the
2006 World Cup tournament. Midfielder
Zinedine Zidane was particularly instrumental in achieving those honours.
France and
Argentina are the only national teams in the world which have won the four most important titles organized by
FIFA: World Cup, Gold medal in football in the Olympic Games, Confederations Cup, and the Continental Cup (
Copa America for Argentina, and
UEFA European Football Championship for France).
History
Early years
France's first ever game was a 3-3 draw against
Belgium in 1904.
They played in all three of the pre-World War II World Cups.
Lucien Laurent scored the first ever World cup goal in
1930, in a 4-1 win over
Mexico. They reached the quarterfinals in
1938 when they hosted the World Cup.
France came third in the
1958 FIFA World Cup, defeating Germany 6-3 for the bronze. France was beaten by Brazil in semi-finals, after central defender
Robert Jonquet's injury and
Pelé hat-trick. Striker
Just Fontaine scored a record 13 goals in the tournament, doing so in just six matches. The team used mainly players and former players from
Stade de Reims, such as
Raymond Kopa,
Robert Jonquet, Edo Kumwembe,[RogerMarche]] or
Just Fontaine, who was at the time one of the best teams in European football.
Platini era
During the captaincy of
Michel Platini France's World Cup performance markedly improved, finishing fourth in
Spain '82, and third in
Mexico '86. In both tournaments, they lost in the semi-finals to
West Germany. The 1982 semi-final is infamously remembered by many for West German keeper
Harald Schumacher's elbowing of France's
Patrick Battiston in the face as the latter made a shot on goal. Despite severely injuring Battiston, Schumacher wasn't penalized. France were also knocked out in the semi-final 1986 and with Platini, now recognized as one of football's all time greats they could have won. However, with Platini as skipper, France, as host nation, won
Euro '84, as well as capturing Olympic gold in
Los Angeles the same year.
Zidane era
France's most successful years were the late 1990s, the generation of
Zinédine Zidane . This team started off well by reaching the semi-finals of
Euro 96. After Euro 96, Jacquet adopted a very defensive strategy and made fans anxious because his team never seemed to develop a definitive offensive tactic. The press began to attack the team manager, calling his methods "" and claiming that the team had no hope for the upcoming
World Cup which would be hosted in their home country. In June 1997 at the Tournament of France, cries of "Resign!" could be heard from the stadium as the French team came in under
Brazil, England and
Italy. The media's distrust of Jacquet reached fever pitch in May 1998 when, instead of a list of 22 players meant to play in the World Cup, Jacquet gave a list of 28 players, causing the sports daily
L'Équipe to write an editoral arguing that Jacquet wasn't the right man to lead the French team to victory.
Euro 2000
Jacquet stepped down after France's World Cup triumph and was succeeded by assistant Roger Lemerre who guided them through
Euro 2000. Zidane cemented his
FIFA World Player of the Year form, scoring a direct free kick in the quarter-final against Spain and a
golden goal penalty in the semi-final against Portugal.
In the finals, France defeated
Italy 2-1 in a come from behind victory. David Trezeguet scored the golden goal in extra time after a controversial equalizing goal from Wiltord in the 5th minute of stoppage time. This gave them the distinction of being the first national team to hold both the World Cup and Euro titles since
West Germany did so in 1974, and it was also the first time that a reigning World Cup winner went on to capture the Euro
(External Link
). France held the top position in the
FIFA World Rankings system from 2001-2002.
2002 World Cup and Euro 2004
France failed to maintain that pace in subsequent tournaments. They suffered a stunning goaless first round elimination in the
2002 FIFA World Cup, possibly due in part to an injury to key playmaker Zidane. One of the greatest shocks in World Cup history condemned France to a 0-1 defeat to debutante
Senegal in the opening game of the tournament. After France had finished bottom of the group with only securing one point, conceding three goals and without scoring any, Lemerre was dismissed.
A full strength team started out strongly in
Euro 2004, with Zidane scoring a free kick and a penalty to overcome a 0-1 deficit and defeat England in the group stage, but they were upset in the quarter-finals by the eventual winners, Greece.
Jacques Santini resigned as coach and
Raymond Domenech was picked as his replacement.
2006 World Cup
France struggled in the qualifiers for the
2006 FIFA World Cup, even though the team was seeded in a group that included the relatively unheralded teams of
Israel,
Switzerland and the
Faroe Islands. This prompted Domenech to persuade "golden generation" members
Claude Makélélé,
Lilian Thuram and
Zinédine Zidane out of international retirement to help the national team qualify. This was France's first successful World Cup qualification since 1986 (France received automatic berths in 1998 and 2002, as hosts and defending champions, respectively).
The team was greeted with modest expectations as it entered the
World Cup tournament, with many arguing that despite the return of the three stars, its squad was too old to be competitive. They had a slow start in the group stage and were in danger of being eliminated after managing only 0-0 and 1-1 draws against Switzerland and South Korea, respectively. Though Zidane was forced to sit out because of accumulated bookings, France found their form and won their final group match, beating Togo 2-0 to advance to the knockout round. There, Zidane would score or assist in every game of the playoffs and his team upset heavily favoured
Spain 3-1 in a come-from-behind victory to advance to the quarter-finals.
France eliminated
Ludovic Giuly's team-mate [Ronaldinho], defending champions
Brazil 1-0 to advance into the cup semi-finals. Despite the score, France had thoroughly outplayed Brazil in the match, only facing one shot on goal, while Zidane created numerous scoring chances with his dribbles past Brazilian defenders and his free-kick to
Thierry Henry resulting in the winning goal. The game made France the first team to have shut out the five-time champions in consecutive matches;
Fabien Barthez was the keeper in both matches.
Les Bleus now have a 2-1-1 all-time record against Brazil in World Cup finals play, having shut the
Seleção out in the last three meetings (the 1986 match was decided 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw).
France emerged from the semi-finals winning 1-0 over
Portugal. Henry was tripped inside the box and a penalty was awarded, which Zidane scored and it stood as the winning goal, as defender
Lilian Thuram neutralized offensive threats from Portuguese stars
Pauleta and
Cristiano Ronaldo. At home, when news came of France's victory, there were mass celebrations at the
Eiffel Tower and
Arc de Triomphe.
France took on
Italy in the final, but the teams were level at 1-1 at the end of normal time. With extra-time failing to produce a victor, penalty kicks were required to settle the match. Italy won the shoot-out 5-3 to be crowned 2006 World Champions. The tournaments
Golden Ball Winner Zinédine Zidane (playing his last professional match) scored the opening goal of the final (becoming only the fourth player to score in two World Cup final games), but his accomplishments in the finals were marred by his sending off (becoming only the fourth player to be sent off in a world cup final) for violent conduct when he
headbutted Marco Materazzi with only ten minutes until extra-time.
Euro 2008 Qualifiers
France started its
qualifying round for
Euro 2008 on
September 2,
2006 by beating
Georgia in
Tbilisi 3-0.The goal scorers for this match were Malouda, Louis Saha and
Malkhaz Asatiani (own goal). They then took on world champions
Italy 3-1 in
Paris on
September 6,
2006 with Sidney Govou striking twice along with Henry, but suffered a huge upset when beaten 1-0 by Scotland on
October 7,
2006, their first European Championship qualifying defeat since they lost 3-2 to
Russia on
June 5,
1999. On
October 11,
2006, France defeated
Faroe Islands by 5-0. All the French strikers that played in the match scored. Goals came from
Louis Saha,
Thierry Henry,
Nicolas Anelka and 2 goals from the
Juventus striker
David Trezeguet. France beat
Lithuania 1-0 on
March 24 2007 with
Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka rescuing an injury hit French side by shooting a wonderful long range effort.The injuries suffered by France were Louis Saha, Thierry Henry, Frank Ribéry, Patrick Vieira,and David Trezeguet. France took on
Ukraine on
June 2 2007 in Paris. Both team were hit by injuries with France missing Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry while Ukraine missed their world class striker Andriy Shevchenko.The game ended in a 2-0 victory with second half strikes from Franck Ribéry and Nicolas Anelka who scored his third goal in three matches. Then on
June 6 2007 France defeated
Georgia in
Auxerre by 1-0, with
Samir Nasri scoring his first senior international goal. On
September 8,
2007, in a much-anticipated rematch, France and Italy played to a 0-0 draw at the
San Siro in Milan. Once again though, on
September 12,
2007, France fell to
Scotland and were defeated 1-0 after Landreau was caught off guard with a strike from
Scotland's
James McFadden adding another loss, but this time on their home (
Parc des Princes) turf. On the
October 12,
2007, Their match with the
Faroe Islands, was threatened to be postponed after bad weather kept their plane from landing in the
Faroe Islands, they'd to spend the night in
Norway. The next day however on
13 October,
2007, the match went ahead as planned, albeit around 30 minutes after scheduled kick-off time with France taking just 8 minutes to open up a 2-0 lead, the match eventually finished 6-0 with strikes from
Nicolas Anelka,
Thierry Henry, and 2 goals from
Karim Benzema just before half time. In the second half
Jerome Rothen and
Hatem Ben Arfa completed the rout. With Italy's victory over Scotland on November 17, 2007, France only just, by 2 points over Scotland, qualified for Euro 2008.
Representing multicultural France
On the 2006 French national team, 17 of the 23 players were members of racial minorities, including many of the most prominent players. The team featured players from the
overseas departments and players who are themselves immigrants or the children of immigrants from former
French colonial territories.
Zinédine Zidane is the child of an immigrant couple from
Algeria.
Vikash Dhorasoo — the first French player of Indian origin - played in the 2006 World Cup. Meanwhile, several players are of
African or
West Indian origin.
Patrick Vieira immigrated as a child from
Senegal, and
Claude Makélélé did likewise from the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Lilian Thuram and
William Gallas are from France's overseas department of
Guadeloupe, while
Éric Abidal was born in
Martinique.
Thierry Henry is the son of parents born in Guadeloupe and
Martinique, while
Louis Saha,
Sylvain Wiltord, and
Pascal Chimbonda all have parents who hail from
Guadeloupe. Finally,
Florent Malouda was born in
French Guiana.
The French national football team has long reflected the ethnic diversity of the country. The first black player playing in the national team was
Raoul Diagne in 1931, the son of the first black African elected to the French National Assembly,
Blaise Diagne. In the 1950s, the first French national team reaching international success with a semi-final at the
World Cup 1958 already included many sons of immigrants such as
Raymond Kopa,
Roger Piantoni,
Maryan Wisnieski or Bernard Chiarelli. This tradition continued through the 1980s, when such successful players as
Michel Platini,
Jean Tigana,
Luis Fernandez,
Gérard Janvion,
Manuel Amoros or
Eric Cantona were all of either foreign-born or overseas-born ancestries.
Since the 1990s, the team has been widely celebrated as an example of the modern
multicultural French ideal.
In recent years, critics on the far right of the French political spectrum have taken issue with the proportional underrepresentation of white Frenchmen on the team.
National Front politician
Jean-Marie Le Pen protested in 1998 that the
Black, Blanc, Beur team that won the World Cup didn't look sufficiently "French." In 2002, led by
Ghanaian-born
Marcel Desailly, the French team unanimously publicly appealled to the French voting public to reject the presidential candidacy of Le Pen and instead return President
Jacques Chirac to office in a landslide. In 2006, Le Pen also resumed his criticism, charging that coach Raymond Domenech had selected too many black players.
In 2005, French philosopher
Alain Finkielkraut caused a controversy by remarking to the Israeli newspaper
Haaretz that despite its earlier slogan, "the French national team is in fact black-black-black," adding "France is made fun of all around Europe because of that." He later excused himself for this comment, which he declared wasn't meant to be offensive.
In 2004, a television crew recorded
Spanish coach
Luis Aragonés motivating Thierry Henry's
Arsenal teammate
José Antonio Reyes by saying
Demuestra que eres mejor que ese negro de mierda ("Show that you're better than that shitty black"). After an investigation,
UEFA fined the
RFEF and warned that future incidents would be punished more severely. Henry and
Nike began a
Stand Up Speak Up campaign against football racism as a result of the incident. Before the start of France's 2006 World Cup second round match against Spain, which France would win 3-1, coach
Raymond Domenech claimed that Spanish fans were making racial taunts
(External Link), this however wasn't proved.
The Zidane-Materazzi
headbutt incident in the 2006 World Cup final and its aftermath served as a symbol for the larger issue of Europe's struggle to integrate its non-white immigrant population: Even though both players denied it, international media speculated for days about the presence of a racist element in the exchange, observing that the Italian team contained no ethnic minorities.
The national team's overall impact on France's efforts to integrate its minorities and come to terms with its colonial past has been mixed, however. In 2001, France played a friendly match in the
Stade de France, site of its 1998 World Cup triumph, against
Algeria. It was France's first meeting with its former colony, with whom it had fought a
war from 1954-62, and it proved controversial. France's national anthem,
La Marseillaise, was booed by Algerian supporters before the game, and following a French goal that made the score 4-1 in the second half, spectators ran onto the field of play and caused the game to be suspended. It was never resumed.
Competitive record
| Year |
Result |
Position |
GP |
W |
D* |
L |
GS |
GA |
| 1930 |
Round 1 |
7 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
| 1934 |
Round of 16 |
9 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| 1938 |
Quarterfinals |
6 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
| 1950 |
Did not qualify |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1954 |
Round 1 |
11 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
| 1958 |
Semifinals |
3 |
6 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
23 |
15 |
| 1962 |
Did not qualify |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1966 |
Round 1 |
13 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
| 1970 |
Did not qualify |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1974 |
Did not qualify |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1978 |
Round 1 |
12 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
5 |
| 1982 |
Semifinals |
4 |
7 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
16 |
12 |
| 1986 |
Semifinals |
3 |
7 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
12 |
6 |
| 1990 |
Did not qualify |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1994 |
Did not qualify |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1998 |
Champions |
1 |
7 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
15 |
2 |
| 2002 |
Round 1 |
28 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
| 2006 |
Final |
2 |
7 |
4 |
3 |
0 |
9 |
3 |
| Total |
12/18 |
1 Title |
51 |
25 |
10 |
16 |
95 |
64 |
| Year |
Result |
GP |
W |
D* |
L |
GS |
GA |
| 1960 |
Semifinals |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
7 |
| 1964 |
Did not qualify |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1968 |
Did not qualify |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1972 |
Did not qualify |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1976 |
Did not qualify |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1980 |
Did not qualify |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1984 |
Champions |
5 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
4 |
| 1988 |
Did not qualify |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1992 |
Round 1 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| 1996 |
Semifinals |
5 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
2 |
| 2000 |
Champions |
6 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
7 |
| 2004 |
Quarterfinals |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
5 |
| 2008 |
Qualified |
|
|
|
|
|
|
7/13 |
25 |
14 |
6 |
5 |
45 |
28 |
| Year |
Result |
GP |
W |
D* |
L |
GS |
GA |
| 1992 |
Did not qualify |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1995 |
Did not qualify |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1997 |
Did not qualify |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 1999 |
Withdrew |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 2001 |
Champions |
5 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
12 |
2 |
| 2003 |
Champions |
5 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
3 |
| 2005 |
Did not qualify |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| 2009 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Total |
2/7 |
10 |
9 |
0 |
1 |
24 |
5 |
» *Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.
**Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won. Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.
Current squad
Provisional 30-man squad for the
UEFA EURO 2008.
Caps and goals as of March 26, 2008.
Goalkeepers
Defenders
| # |
Name |
Date of birth |
Club |
Caps (goals) |
Debut |
| 2 |
Patrice Evra |
|
Manchester United |
9 (0) |
v. Bosnia-Herzegovina, 18 August, 2004 |
| 3 |
Éric Abidal |
|
Barcelona |
32 (0) |
v. Bosnia-Herzegovina, 18 August, 2004 |
| 5 |
William Gallas |
|
Arsenal |
60 (2) |
v. Slovenia, 12 October, 2002 |
| 15 |
Lilian Thuram |
|
Barcelona |
137 (2) |
v. Czech Republic, 17 August, 1994 |
| 19 |
Willy Sagnol |
|
Bayern Munich |
54 (0) |
v. Turkey, 15 November, 2000 |
| N/A |
Jean-Alain Boumsong |
|
Lyon |
22 (1) |
v. Japan, 20 June, 2003 |
| N/A |
Philippe Mexès |
|
Roma |
8 (0) |
v. Malta, 16 October, 2002 |
| N/A |
François Clerc |
|
Lyon |
10 (0) |
v. Faroe Islands, 11 October, 2006 |
| N/A |
Sébastien Squillaci |
|
Lyon |
12 (0) |
v. Bosnia-Herzegovina, 18 August, 2004 |
| N/A |
Julien Escudé |
|
Sevilla |
6 (0) |
v. Faroe Islands, 11 October, 2006 |
Midfielders
| # |
Name |
Date of birth |
Club |
Caps (goals) |
Debut |
| 4 |
Patrick Vieira (captain) |
|
Inter Milan |
105 (6) |
v. Netherlands, 26 February, 1997 |
| 6 |
Claude Makélélé |
|
Chelsea |
65 (0) |
v. Norway, 22 July, 1995 |
| 7 |
Florent Malouda |
|
Chelsea |
35 (3) |
v. Poland, 17 November, 2004 |
| 8 |
Jérémy Toulalan |
|
Lyon |
10 (0) |
v. Faroe Islands, 11 October, 2006 |
| 18 |
Alou Diarra |
|
Bordeaux |
12 (0) |
v. Republic of Ireland, 4 October, 2004 |
| 21 |
Lassana Diarra |
|
Portsmouth |
10 (0) |
v. Lithuania, 24 March, 2007 |
| 22 |
Franck Ribéry |
|
Bayern Munich |
24 (2) |
v. Mexico, 27 May, 2006 |
| N/A |
Mathieu Flamini |
|
A.C. Milan |
1 (0) |
v. Morocco, 16 November, 2007 |
| N/A |
Hatem Ben Arfa |
|
Lyon |
5 (1) |
v. Faroe Islands, 13 October, 2007 |
| N/A |
Samir Nasri |
|
Arsenal |
7 (2) |
v. Austria, 28 March, 2007 |
Strikers
| # |
Name |
Date of birth |
Club |
Caps (goals) |
Debut |
| 9 |
Karim Benzema |
|
Lyon |
9 (3) |
v. Austria, 28 March, 2007 |
| 10 |
Sidney Govou |
|
Lyon |
30 (7) |
v. Tunisia, 21 August, 2002 |
| 12 |
Thierry Henry |
|
Barcelona |
98 (44) |
v. South Africa, 11 October, 1997 |
| 39 |
Nicolas Anelka |
|
Chelsea |
44 (11) |
v. Sweden, 22 April, 1998 |
| N/A |
Djibril Cissé |
|
Marseille |
35 (9) |
v. Belgium, 18 May, 2002 |
| N/A |
Bafetimbi Gomis |
|
AS Saint-Étienne |
0 (0) |
N/A |
Recent call-up
The following players have all recently been called up to the France squad. Bracket shows last call-up time.
Coaching staff
Previous squads
Players
Famous past players
See also:
Most capped French players
As of
February 10,
2008, the ten players with the most caps for France are:
Members of the
1998 FIFA World Cup winning team are in bold.
* denotes a player still playing or available for selection.
Top France goalscorers
As of 10th February 2008, the highest ten goalscorers for France are:
Members of the
1998 FIFA World Cup winning team are in bold.
* denotes a player still playing or available for selection.
Coaches
Before 1955, players were selected by committee.
Albert Batteux (1955-1962)
Henri Guérin (1962-1966)
José Arribas and Jean Snella (1966)
Just Fontaine (1967)
Louis Dugauguez (1967-1968)
Georges Boulogne (1969-1973)
Stefan Kovacs (1973-1975)
Michel Hidalgo (1976-1984)
Henri Michel (1984-1988)
Michel Platini (1988-1992)
Gérard Houllier (1992-1993)
Aimé Jacquet (1993-1998)
Roger Lemerre (1998-2002)
Jacques Santini (2002-2004)
Raymond Domenech (2004-present)Further Information
Get more info on 'France National Football Team'.
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