Football World Cup 2006 Germany

France

France

Nickname	Les Bleus (The Blues)
Association	French Football Federation (Fédération Française de Football)
Coach	Raymond Domenech, 2004-
Most caps	Marcel Desailly (116)
Top scorer	Michel Platini (41)
First international Belgium 3 - 3 France (Brussels, Belgium; 1 May 1904)
Largest win France 10 - 0 Azerbaijan (Paris, France; 6 September 1995)
Worst defeat Denmark 17 - 1 France (London, England; 19 October 1908)
World Cup
Appearances	12 (First in 1930)
Best result	Winners, 1998
European Championship
Appearances	6 (First in 1960)
Best result	Winners, 1984 and 2000

The France national football team is a European football team among the top sides in international football today.

France came third in the 1958 World Cup. The generation of Michel Platini and others came fourth in 1982, and third in 1986. In between, they won the European Championship in 1984.

France's most successful years were the late 1990s, the generation of Zidane and others. This team played in the semifinals of Euro 96, two years later hosted and won the 1998 World Cup, and two years later won Euro 2000.

Ranked as favourites, this team's performance in the 2002 World Cup was dismal, not winning a single game, nor scoring a goal. Despite this they were still among the favourites to win Euro 2004, but were beaten in the quarter-finals by the eventual winners Greece.

World Cup record

1930 - Round 1
1934 - Round 1
1938 - Quarterfinals
1950 - Did not qualify
1954 - Round 1
1958 - Third place
1962 - Did not qualify
1966 - Round 1
1970 - Did not qualify
1974 - Did not qualify
1978 - Round 1
1982 - Fourth place
1986 - Third place
1990 - Did not qualify
1994 - Did not qualify
1998 - Champions
2002 - Round 1
2006 - Qualified

European Championship record

1960 - Fourth place
1964 to 1980 - Did not qualify
1984 - Champions
1988 - Did not qualify
1992 - Round 1
1996 - Semifinals
2000 - Champions
2004 - Quarterfinals

Famous past players

Current squad

Goalkeepers:

Fabien Barthez
Grégory Coupet
Mickaël Landreau

Defenders:

Éric Abidal
Jean-Alain Boumsong
William Gallas
Gaël Givet
Franck Jurietti
Anthony Réveillčre
Willy Sagnol
Lilian Thuram

Midfielders:

Alou Diarra
Vikash Dhorasoo
Ludovic Giuly
Sidney Govou
Claude Makélélé
Florent Malouda
Jérôme Rothen
Patrick Vieira
Zinédine Zidane (captain)

Forwards:

Nicolas Anelka
Djibril Cissé
Thierry Henry
David Trézéguet
Sylvain Wiltord

Player records

Most capped French players

As of November 12, 2005, the ten players with the most caps for France are:

Members of the 1998 World Cup-winning team are in bold. * denotes a player still playing or available for selection.

Top France goalscorers

Members of the 1998 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-)

External links

• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
• RSSSF archive of coaches 1960-

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This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.