France national football team
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| Nickname | Les Bleus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Association | Fédération Française de Football |
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| Head coach |  Raymond Domenech, 2004- |
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| Captain | Patrick Vieira | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Most caps | Lilian Thuram (124) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top scorer | Michel Platini (41) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home Stadium | Stade de France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FIFA code | FRA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FIFA ranking | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest FIFA ranking | 1 (May 2001) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lowest FIFA ranking | 25 (April 1998) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Elo ranking | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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) |
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| Lowest Elo ranking | 44 (May 1928 February 1930) |
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First international Belgium 3 - 3 France (Brussels, Belgium; 1 May 1904) |
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Largest win France 10 - 0 Azerbaijan  (Auxerre, France; 6 September 1995) |
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Worst 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 | 6 (First in 1960) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Best result | Winners, 1984 and 2000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympic medal record | |||
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| Men's Football | |||
| Silver | 1900 Paris | Team | |
| Bronze | 1920 Antwerp | Team | |
| Gold | 1984 Los Angeles | Team | |
The French football team is one of the best and most respected team in international football, having won the 1998 World Cup and coming second in the 2006 World Cup. They also won Euro 1984 and Euro 2000. It is fielded by the French Football Federation and competes as a member of UEFA.
Interestingly, France has finished first, second, and third at both the FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympic Games, the only national football team to do so.
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[edit] History
[edit] 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. Superstar Just Fontaine scored a record 13 goals in the tournament, doing so in just six matches.
[edit] Platini era
The generation of Michel Platini and others came fourth in 1982, and third in 1986. During both tournaments, they lost in the semi-finals to West Germany. The 1982 semi-final would be infamously remembered because German keeper Harald Schumacher elbowed French substitute Patrick Battiston in the face as the latter made a shot on goal. Despite severely injuring Battiston, Schumacher was not penalized and perhaps this contributed to France's defeat in the decided shootout.
Besides consecutive semi-final finishes at the World Cup, France also won the European Championship in 1984. They also captured the gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics that year.
[edit] Cantona era
Having made his international début against West Germany in August 1987, Éric Cantona was the favourite of Michel Platini, now the national team manager, who claimed that Cantona would be selected as long as he was playing competitive top class football. However, France failed to qualify for Euro 1988 despite being the defending champions. Cantona was then suspended from internationals for a year after he insulted the French national team manager on television in August 1988. France failed to win a single game in the European Championship, held in Sweden in 1992, despite the striking partnership of Cantona and Jean-Pierre Papin. Platini resigned after Euro 92 and was succeeded by Gérard Houllier.
France then failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup in the USA, after losing the final game 2-1 at home to Bulgaria when a draw would suffice. During the match, David Ginola lost the ball which led to Bulgaria's winning goal by Emil Kostadinov. Gérard Houllier resigned and Aimé Jacquet was made the manager of the national team, but only provisionally. After a promising series of friendly matches (notably a victory over Italy in Naples in February 1994), his provisional status was upgraded to permanent.
Jacquet began to rebuild the national team in preparation for Euro 96 and appointed Cantona as the captain. Jacquet initially selected Éric Cantona as captain and made him the team's playmaker. Cantona had successfully restarted his career in the FA Premier League and was playing some of the best football of his career, but he kicked a Crystal Palace fan in January 1995, which earned him a year-long suspension from all international matches.
As Cantona was the key playmaker, Jacquet was forced to make major changes to the team in the wake of his suspension. Jacquet revamped the squad with some new blood and built it around Zinedine Zidane, while dropping Cantona, Jean-Pierre Papin, and David Ginola. Jacquet's choice of players for the tournament caused some fans to grit their teeth but he succeeded in helping France qualify for the Euro 96.
Making it all the way to the semi-finals of Euro 96 before being eliminated in a penalty shootout, this marked France's best showing in an international tournament since the 1986 World Cup. More importantly, Les Bleus managed to show they could survive without veterans such as Jean-Pierre Papin, Éric Cantona, or David Ginola. Jacquet himself stated that the team had done well without Cantona, and that he wanted to keep faith with the players who had taken them so far [1].
[edit] Golden generation
France's most successful years were the late 1990s, the generation of Zinédine Zidane and others. This team started off well by reaching the semi-finals of Euro 96. After Euro 96, Jacquet adopted a very defensive strategy afterwards 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 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 was not the right man to lead the French team to victory.
[edit] 1998 World Cup
However, all that would change when the team began to play in the group stage of the 1998 World Cup. It was clear that though the team was far from being the most flamboyant in French history, it was a perfectly well-oiled machine that neither injury, nor expulsions, nor suspensions, managed to stop.
Lilian Thuram and Marcel Desailly were lynchpins of the best defence in the tournament, conceding only 2 goals in seven matches. France swept their group, then defeated Paraguay 1-0 with a Golden Goal from Laurent Blanc. In the quarter-finals, they edged Italy in a penalty shootout after both teams were tied 0-0. Though they fell behind for the first time in the tournament to Croatia, Thuram scored two goals in France's comeback semi-final win.
The crowning moment of their glory was when they soundly defeated the defending champions Brazil 3-0 in the World Cup Final. In the first half, taking advantage of poor Brazilian marking at defensive set pieces, Zinédine Zidane scored two headed goals from France's corner kicks[2]. Brazil was unable to find the net, even with Desailly's sending off, and Emmanuel Petit adding a third goal in the last minute of regular time. France's inaugural triumph also made them the first host in 20 years to capture the World Cup. An estimated one million people took to the Paris streets to celebrate through the night.
[edit] 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 Trézéguet was this goal scorer. 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[3]. France held the top position in the FIFA World Rankings system from 2001-2002.
[edit] 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004
France failed to maintain that pace in subsequent tournaments. They suffered a stunning first round elimination in the 2002 FIFA World Cup due to an injury to key playmaker Zidane. Lemerre was dismissed after the tournament.
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. Jacques Santini resigned as coach and Raymond Domenech was picked as his replacement.
[edit] 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 Republic of Ireland. 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 next eliminated defending World Cup champion and top-ranked 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, giving him the distinction of being the only keeper to have defeated Brazil twice.[citations needed] 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 lost the 2006 final 1-1 (5-3 on penalties) to Italy, a game in which Zidane scored a goal (becoming only the fourth player to score in two World Cup final games) but also was sent off with a red card by headbutting Marco Materazzi at 110'. The French public nevertheless hailed their national team as heroes.
[edit] Euro 2008 Qualifiers
France started its qualifying round for Euro 2008 on September 2, 2006 by beating Georgia in Tbilisi 3-0 and world champions Italy 3-1 in Paris on September 6, 2006 but suffered a huge upset when beaten 1-0 by Scotland on October 7, 2006, their first European Championship qualifying defeat since 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.
[edit] Representing multicultural France
On the 2006 French national soccer team, 17 of the 23 players were members of racial minorities, including many of the most prominent players. The team features players from the overseas departments and players who are themselves immigrants or the children of immigrants from former French colonial possessions. Among them, Zinédine Zidane, William Gallas and Nicolas Anelka are Muslims; Zidane is the child of immigrants from Algeria; Lilian Thuram, William Gallas and Thierry Henry are all of Antillean origin, the first two coming from the overseas department of Guadeloupe and Henry the child of parents born in Guadeloupe and Martinique; Anelka's parents originate from Martinique; Florent Malouda was born in French Guiana; Patrick Vieira immigrated as a child from Senegal. Also, Eric Abidal was born in Martinique, Claude Makélélé from Zaire, and Louis Saha, Sylvain Wiltord, and Pascal Chimbonda having parents who hail from Guadeloupe.
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 was already including 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 Éric 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.[2]
Critics on the far right of French political spectrum have taken issue with the numerical underreprentation 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 Ghana-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.[3]
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 as offensive.[4]
In 2004, a TV crew caught Spanish coach Luis Aragonés motivating Thierry Henry's Arsenal teammate José Antonio Reyes by saying "Demuestra que eres mejor que ese negro de mierda", which means 'Show that you're better than that black shit'. After an investigation, UEFA fined the RFEF and warned that future incidents would be punished more severely. Henry and Nike started the 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 said that Spanish fans were making racial taunts.[4]
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 with its emerging multicultural identity: 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 had no minorities.[7]
The team's overall impact on France's efforts to integrate its minorities and come to terms with its colonial past is mixed, however. A 2001 friendly match in Paris with its former colony of Algeria, with whom France has had a troubled history, ended disastrously. The match was abandoned in the second half because of supporters entering into the game field
[edit] World Cup record
| Year | Finish | Matches | Wins | Draws* | Losses | Goals Scored | Goals Against |
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| 1930 | Round 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| 1934 | Round 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 1938 | Quarter-final | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| 1950 | Did not qualify | ||||||
| 1954 | Round 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 1958 | Third place | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 15 |
| 1962 | Did not qualify | ||||||
| 1966 | Round 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 1970 | Did not qualify | ||||||
| 1974 | Did not qualify | ||||||
| 1978 | Round 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| 1982 | Fourth place | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 12 |
| 1986 | Third place | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 6 |
| 1990 | Did not qualify | ||||||
| 1994 | Did not qualify | ||||||
| 1998 | Champions | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 2 |
| 2002 | Round 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 2006 | Runners-up | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 3 |
| Total | 51 | 25 | 10 | 16 | 95 | 64 |
* Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.
[edit] European Championship record
- 1960 - Fourth place
- 1964 to 1980 - Did not qualify
- 1984 - Champions
- 1988 - Did not qualify
- 1992 - Round 1
- 1996 - Semi-finals
- 2000 - Champions
- 2004 - Quarter-finals
[edit] Current squad
The following players named for friendly match against Greece on 15 November 2006[8].
Caps and goals as of 15 November 2006, included against Greece.
- Karim Benzema and Sidney Govou are both injured and heve been dropped from squad.
- Gonzalo Higuaín, Argentine footballer with French passport, rejected the call-up to squad.
[edit] Recent call-up
The following players have all recently been called up to the France squad. Bracket shows last call-up time.
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- Djibril Cissé originally was called up for the World Cup. However, due to a broken foot suffered in the friendly between France and China, he was replaced by Sidney Govou on 8 June 2006.[5]
[edit] Previous squads
- 2006 FIFA World Cup squads - France
- 2004 European Football Championship squads - France
- 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup squads - France
- 2002 FIFA World Cup squads - France
- 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup squads - France
- 2000 European Football Championship squads - France
- 1998 FIFA World Cup squads - France
[edit] Players
[edit] Famous past players
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[edit] Most capped French players
As of November 15, 2006, the ten players with the most caps for France are:
| # | Name | Career | Caps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lilian Thuram* | 1994 - Present | 126 | 2 |
| 2 | Marcel Desailly | 1993 - 2004 | 116 | 3 |
| 3 | Zinedine Zidane | 1994 - 2006 | 108 | 31 |
| 4 | Didier Deschamps | 1989 - 2000 | 103 | 4 |
| 5 | Patrick Vieira* | 1997 - Present | 100 | 6 |
| 6 | Bixente Lizarazu | 1992 - 2004 | 97 | 2 |
| Laurent Blanc | 1989 - 2000 | 97 | 16 | |
| 8 | Sylvain Wiltord* | 1999 - Present | 92 | 26 |
| 9 | Thierry Henry* | 1997 - Present | 91 | 39 |
| 10 | Fabien Barthez | 1994 - 2006 | 87 | 0 |
Members of the 1998 FIFA World Cup-winning team are in bold.
* denotes a player still playing or available for selection.
[edit] Top France goalscorers
| # | Player | Career | Goals (Caps) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michel Platini | 1976 - 87 | 41 (72) |
| 2 | Thierry Henry* | 1997 - Present | 39 (91) |
| 3 | David Trézéguet* | 1998 - Present | 34 (68) |
| 4 | Zinedine Zidane | 1994 - 2006 | 31 (108) |
| 5 | Just Fontaine | 1953 - 60 | 30 (21) |
| Jean-Pierre Papin | 1986 - 1995 | 30 (54) | |
| 7 | Youri Djorkaeff | 1993 - 2002 | 28 (82) |
| 8 | Sylvain Wiltord* | 1999 - Present | 26 (92) |
| 9 | Jean Vincent | 1953 - 61 | 22 (46) |
| 10 | Jean Nicolas | 1933 - 38 | 21 (25) |
Members of the 1998 World Cup-winning team are in bold.
* denotes a player still playing or available for selection.
[edit] 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-)
[edit] See also
- France national under-21 football team
- French Guiana football team
- Guadeloupe football team
- Martinique football team
- New Caledonia football team
- Réunion football team
- Saint-Martin football team
- Tahiti football team
[edit] References
- ^ FourFourTwo Great Footballers: Éric Cantona 198.
- ^ "A Multi-Hued National Team Thrills Racially Uneasy France", Washington Post, 7 July 2006. Retrieved on 2006-08-17.
- ^ "The Sword is Mightier than Le Pen", ESPN, 7 July 2006. Retrieved on 2006-08-17.
- ^ "Finkielkraut sur Europe 1", Le Nouvel Observateur, 25 November 2005. Retrieved on 2005-11-25.
- ^ "Zidane and Materazzi fined and banned by FIFA", Reuters, 20 July 2006. Retrieved on 2006-07-20.
- ^ Hughes, Matt. "Read my lips: the taunt that made Zidane snap", The Times, 2006-07-10. Retrieved on 2006-07-11.
- ^ "Race card trumps head-butt", Toronto Sun, 2006-07-15. Retrieved on 2006-08-12. "The Head Butt Furor: A Window on Europe's Identity Crisis", TIME Magazine, 2006-07-13. Retrieved on 2006-07-13. It should be noted that Italy, historically an emigrant nation, has a small immigrant population, whereas France can attribute its demographic composition to the legacy of its former colonial empire.
- ^ [1]
[edit] External links
- French National Football Team Official Website (French)
- France World Cup News 2006
- RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
- RSSSF archive of coaches 1960-
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2006 FIFA World Cup finalists
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