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| Nickname(s) | Les Bleus (The Blues) Les Tricolores (The Tricolours) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Association | Fédération Française de Football |
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| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coach |  Raymond Domenech |
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| Captain | Thierry Henry | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Most caps | Lilian Thuram (142) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top scorer | Thierry Henry (48) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home stadium | Stade de France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FIFA code | FRA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FIFA ranking | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest FIFA ranking | 1 (May 2001-May 2002) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lowest FIFA ranking | 25 (April 1998) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Elo ranking | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest Elo ranking | 1 (December 1984-April 1985 August 1985 February-June 1986 July 1998-March 1999 June 2000-May 2002 September 2003-August 2004 August 2006-October 2006 February 2007 June 2007-July 2007) |
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| Lowest Elo ranking | 44 (May 1928 February 1930) |
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| First international | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.svg){kind=small} Belgium 3 - 3 France (Brussels, Belgium; 1 May 1904) |
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| Biggest win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
France 10 - 0 Azerbaijan  (Auxerre, France; 6 September 1995) |
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| Biggest defeat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Denmark 17 - 1 France (London, England; 22 October 1908) |
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| World Cup | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Appearances | 12 (First in 1930) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Best result | Winners, 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| European Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Appearances | 7 (First in 1960) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Best result | Winners, 1984 and 2000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Confederations Cup | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Appearances | 2 (First in 2001) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Best result | Winners, 2001 and 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympic medal record | |||
| Men's Football | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Silver | 1900 Paris | Team | |
| Gold | 1984 Los Angeles | Team | |
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. 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, while also placing second at the 2006 World Cup tournament. Midfielder Zinédine Zidane was particularly instrumental in achieving those honours.
France and Argentina are the only national teams which have won the three most important men's titles organized by FIFA: the World Cup, the Confederations Cup, and the Olympic Tournament.
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (March 2008) |
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,Roger Marche or Just Fontaine, who was at the time one of the best teams in European football.
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 unfortunately 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 was not penalized. This was the turning point of the match: after leading 3-1, les bleus were eliminated in the penalty-kicks, after FC Nantes' defender Maxime Bossis saw his shot stopped by Schumacher.[1] France were also knocked out in the semi-final 1986, again by West Germany. However, with Platini as skipper, France, as host nation, won Euro '84, as well as capturing Olympic gold in Los Angeles the same year.
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, coach Aimé 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 "Paleolithic" 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 Tournoi de 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 was not the right man to lead the French team to victory.
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 Trézéguet scored the golden goal in extra time after an 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[1]. France held the top position in the FIFA World Rankings system from 2001-2002.
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 finished bottom of the group - 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.
France struggled in the qualifiers for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, managing only 0-0 draws with Israel, Ireland, and Switzerland. 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 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, in which 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 tournament's 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.
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 an 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 Trézéguet. 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, Franck Ribéry, Patrick Vieira and David Trézéguet. France took on Ukraine on June 2, 2007 in Paris. Both teams 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 for France 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 at the Parc des Princes in Paris. On October 12, 2007, their match with the Faroe Islands, was threatened with postponement after bad weather kept their plane from landing in the Faroe Islands; they had 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 Jérôme 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.
Despite high expectations from followers of Les Bleus, the squad made a stuttering start to the 2008 European Championships, drawing 0-0 to Romania in Zurich and then finishing on the receiving end of a 4-1 mauling at the hands of the Netherlands in Berne. For the final group game, Domenech dropped Thuram and replaced him with Abidal. This proved to be a bad decision as Abidal looked out of his depth in the centre of defence and subsequently was sent off for a rash challenge on Luca Toni. France continued to play poorly and when they lost 2-0 to Italy, they came last of their group and failed to get to the quarterfinals.
France's performance at Euro 2008 effectively marked the end of its golden era stemming back to the team's World Cup win on home soil in 1998, which was followed by their triumph at Euro 2000 two years later in the Netherlands and Belgium. Only three players from those successful teams were selected in the final squad for Euro 2008 by French coach Raymond Domenech, with only Thierry Henry and Lilian Thuram earning game time, though their effectiveness and performances were soundly criticised by French football media. The third remaining player, Patrick Vieira, was initially named the team captain but was unable to take the field in any of France's Euro matches due to a thigh injury. The team's early exit from the tournament signalled the international retirements of Lilian Thuram, and Claude Makélélé; Willy Sagnol also announced that he would take time to contemplate his international future.
France's efforts were comparable to their disastrous 2002 World Cup campaign where they were also eliminated in the first round without winning a game. France bettered their efforts from 2002 by scoring a solitary goal in this tournament compared to their goalless campaign six years prior.
In the aftermath of the tournament, calls were made for the sacking of Raymond Domenech, and Didier Deschamps, captain of the 1998 World Cup and 2000 Euro championship teams, was sounded out as a suitable replacement. However, on July 3, at a French Football Federation high level meeting in Paris, it was announced that Domenech would be retained as manager.
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France's campaign for 2010 World Cup qualification got off to a disappointing start with a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Austria in Vienna on September 6, 2008. Speculation followed regarding the future of Raymond Domenech as team coach prior to the subsequent match, against Serbia four days later. There, with goals from Thierry Henry and Nicolas Anelka, France gained a 2-1 home victory. On October 11, France drew 2-2 with Romania.
Goalscorers during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
Sidney Govou 1 goal
Thierry Henry 1 goal
Nicolas Anelka 1 goal
Franck Ribéry 1 goal
Yoann Gourcuff 1 goal
Since the 1990s, the team has been widely celebrated as an example of the modern multicultural French ideal.[1] 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 born in France's overseas departments and others who were immigrants or the children of immigrants from former French colonies. Zinédine Zidane is the child of an immigrant couple from Algeria; of the current squad Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri are also of Algerian origin. 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, Bafétimbi Gomis has dual French-Senegalese nationality, and Claude Makélélé did likewise from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lilian Thuram is from France's overseas department of Guadeloupe. 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 and Bernard Chiarelli. This tradition continued through the 1980s, when such successful players as Michel Platini, Jean Tigana, Luis Fernández, Gérard Janvion, Manuel Amoros or Eric Cantona were all of either foreign-born or overseas-born ancestries.
The multiracial makeup of the team has at times provoked controversy. 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 did not look sufficiently French. In 2002, led by Ghanaian-born Marcel Desailly, the French team unanimously publicly appealed 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.[2]
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 was not meant to be offensive.[3]
In 2004, a television crew recorded Spanish coach Luis Aragonés motivating Thierry Henry's Arsenal teammate José Antonio Reyes by saying Dígale al negro: "soy mejor que usted, negro de mierda" ("Tell that black: 'I'm better than you, you 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[4], this however was not 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,[5] international media speculated for days about the presence of a racist element in the exchange,[6] observing that the Italian team contained no ethnic minorities.[7]
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.
[edit] World Cup record
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[edit] European Championship record
[edit] Confederations Cup record
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| Name | Nat | Period | Matches | Wins | Draws | Losses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raymond Domenech | |
July 2004-Current | 33 | 17 | 10 | 6* |
Squad for friendly match against Uruguay on November 19, 2008.
Caps and goals as of November 19, 2008.
| Number | Name | DOB | Club | Caps (goals) | Debut |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | |||||
| 1 | Steve Mandanda | March 28, 1985 | Marseille |
6 (0) | v Ecuador, 27 May 2008 |
| 16 | Hugo Lloris | December 26, 1986 | Lyon |
1 (0) | v Uruguay, 19 November 2008 |
| 23 | Yohann Pelé | November 4, 1982 | Le Mans |
0 (0) | |
| Defenders | |||||
| 2 | Bacary Sagna | February 14, 1983 |  Arsenal |
6 (0) | v Slovakia, 22 August 2007 |
| 3 | Patrice Evra | May 15, 1981 | Manchester United |
17 (0) | v Bosnia-Herzegovina, 18 August 2004 |
| 5 | William Gallas | August 17, 1977 | Arsenal |
69 (2) | v Slovenia, 12 October 2002 |
| 7 | Gaël Clichy | July 26, 1985 | Arsenal |
2 (0) | v Serbia, 10 September 2008 |
| 13 | Mikaël Silvestre | August 9, 1977 | Arsenal |
40 (2) | v Germany, 27 February 2001 |
| 14 | Rod Fanni | December 6, 1981 | Rennes |
2 (0) | v Tunisia, 14 October 2008 |
| 15 | Philippe Mexès | March 30, 1982 |  Roma |
11 (0) | v Malta, 16 August 2002 |
| 17 | Julien Escudé | August 17, 1979 |  Sevilla |
7 (0) | v Faroe Islands, 11 October 2006 |
| Midfielders | |||||
| 4 | Patrick Vieira | June 23, 1976 | Internazionale |
106 (6) | v Holland, 26 February 1997 |
| 6 | Alou Diarra | July 15, 1981 | Bordeaux |
18 (0) | v Ireland, 9 October 2004 |
| 11 | Samir Nasri | June 26, 1987 | Arsenal |
14 (2) | v Austria, 28 March 2007 |
| 19 | Yoann Gourcuff | July 11, 1986 | Bordeaux |
6 (1) | v Sweden, August 20, 2008 |
| 20 | Jérémy Toulalan | September 10, 1983 | Lyon |
22 (0) | v Faroe Islands, 11 October 2006 |
| 21 | Lassana Diarra | March 10, 1985 | Real Madrid |
16 (0) | v Lithuania, 24 March 2007 |
| 22 | Franck Ribéry | April 1, 1983 |  Bayern Munich |
33 (5) | v Mexico, 27 May 2006 |
| Strikers | |||||
| 8 | Nicolas Anelka | March 14, 1979 (age 29) | Chelsea |
54 (12) | v Sweden, 22 April 1998 |
| 9 | Jimmy Briand | August 2, 1985 (age 23) | Rennes |
3 (0) | v Romania, 11 October 2008 |
| 10 | Karim Benzema | December 19, 1987 (age 20) | Lyon |
19 (5) | v Austria, 28 March 2007 |
| 12 | Thierry Henry | August 17, 1977 (age 31) | Barcelona |
108 (48) | v South Africa, 11 October 1997 |
| 18 | Steve Savidan | June 29, 1978 (age 30) | SM Caen |
1 (0) | v Uruguay, 19 November 2008 |
| Name | DOB | Club | Caps (goals) | Debut | Most recent callup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | |||||
| Sébastien Frey | March 18, 1980 (age 28) | Fiorentina |
2 (0) | v Ukraine, 21 November 2007 |
UEFA EURO 2008 |
| Mickaël Landreau | May 14, 1979 (age 29) | PSG |
11 (0) | v Mexico, 3 June 2001 |
v Ecuador, 27 May 2008 |
| Grégory Coupet | December 31, 1972 (age 35) | Atlético Madrid |
34 (0) | v Australia, 1 June 2001 |
UEFA EURO 2008 |
| Defenders | |||||
| François Clerc | April 18, 1983 (age 25) | Lyon |
13 (0) | v Faroe Islands, 11 October 2006 |
UEFA EURO 2008 |
| Willy Sagnol | March 18, 1977 (age 31) | Bayern Munich |
58 (0) | v Turkey, 15 November 2000 |
UEFA EURO 2008 |
| Sébastien Squillaci | August 11, 1980 (age 28) | Sevilla |
13 (0) | v Bosnia-Herzegovina, 18 August 2004 |
UEFA EURO 2008 |
| Éric Abidal | September 11, 1979 (age 29) | Barcelona |
40 (0) | v Bosnia-Herzegovina, 18 August 2004 |
v Tunisia, 14 October 2008 |
| Midfielders | |||||
| Mathieu Flamini | March 7, 1984 (age 24) | Milan |
3 (0) | v Morocco, 16 November 2007 |
v Serbia, 10 September 2008 |
| Sidney Govou | July 27, 1979 (age 29) | Lyon |
37 (10) | v Tunisia, 21 August 2002 |
v Serbia, 10 September 2008 |
| Abou Diaby | May 11, 1986 (age 22) | Arsenal |
2 (0) | v Lithuania, 24 March 2007 |
v Spain, 6 February 2008 |
| Jérôme Rothen | March 31, 1978 (age 30) | PSG |
13 (1) | v Malta, 29 March 2003 |
v Spain, 6 February 2008 |
| Hatem Ben Arfa | March 7, 1987 (age 21) | ||||
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