This is a record of France's results at the FIFA World Cup. France was one of the four European teams that participated at the inaugural World Cup in 1930 and have appeared in 15 FIFA World Cups, tied for the sixth most of any country.[1]
The national team is one of eight to have won the FIFA World Cup title and one of only six to have done so more than once.[2]
The French team won its first World Cup title in 1998. The tournament was played on home soil and France defeated Brazil 3–0 in the final match.[3][4] The tournament was hosted in France once before in 1938, where France was eliminated by defending champions Italy in the quarter finals.
In 2006, France finished as runners-up, losing on penalties (5–3) to Italy after the game was tied 1–1 after 120 minutes. The team has also finished in third place on two occasions, in 1958 and 1986, and in fourth place once, in 1982. In 2018 France won the World Cup for the second time 4–2 against Croatia in Luzhniki Stadium, Russia.[5][6]
The 1998 final was held on 12 July at the Stade de France, Saint-Denis. France defeated holders Brazil 3–0, with two goals from Zinedine Zidane and a stoppage time strike from Emmanuel Petit. The win gave France their first World Cup title, becoming the sixth national team after Uruguay, Italy, England, West Germany and Argentina to win the tournament on their home soil. They also inflicted the heaviest defeat on Brazil since 1930.[7]
The pre-match build up was dominated by the omission of Brazilian striker Ronaldo from the starting lineup only to be reinstated 45 minutes before kick-off.[8] He managed to create the first open chance for Brazil in the 22nd minute, dribbling past defender Thuram before sending a cross out on the left side that goalkeeper Fabien Barthez struggled to hold onto. France however took the lead in the 27th minute after Brazilian defender Roberto Carlos conceded a corner which Zidane scored with a header from the right.[9]
Three minutes before half-time, Zidane scored his second goal of the match, similarly another header from a corner, this time from the left side. The tournament hosts went down to ten men in the 68th minute as Marcel Desailly was sent off for a second bookable offence. Brazil reacted to this by making an attacking substitution and although they applied pressure France sealed the win with a third goal: substitute Patrick Vieira set up his club teammate Petit in a counterattack to shoot low past goalkeeper Cláudio Taffarel.[10]
French president Jacques Chirac was in attendance to congratulate and commiserate the winners and runners-up respectively after the match.[11] Several days after the victory, winning manager Aimé Jacquet announced his resignation from the French team with immediate effect.[12][13][14]
Goalkeeper Fabien Barthez also shares the FIFA World Cup record for most matches without conceding a goal, which he achieved ten times. The only other player to have reached that number is England's Peter Shilton.
Just Fontaine scored all his 13 World Cup goals in 1958, where France reached third place. This makes him record holder for most goals scored in a single FIFA World Cup. At the time, it also made him the most successful World Cup scorer of all time until the record was broken by West Germany's Gerd Müller in the World Cup final of 1974.
1 Considered a successor team by FIFA, or have competed under another name(s). 2 Have been member of multiple confederations. 3 Team and national federation no longer exist.
1930
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1990
1994
1998
2002
2010
2014
2018
2022
2034
Paris Saint Germain
