France national football team: Difference between revisions

Olympic medal record
Men's Football

France
	Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)	Les Bleus (The Blues), L'Equipe tricolore (The Tri-color Team)
Association	Fédération Française; de Football
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Raymond Domenech
Captain	Thierry Henry
Most caps	Lilian Thuram (142)
Top scorer	Thierry Henry (51)
Home stadium	Stade de France
FIFA code	FRA
First colours	Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	9
Highest	1 (May 2001-May 2002)
Lowest	25 (April 1998)
First international
	Belgium 3 - 3 France ; (Brussels, Belgium; 1 May 1904)
Biggest win
	France 10 - 0 Azerbaijan ; (Auxerre, France; 6 September 1995)
Biggest defeat
	Denmark 17 - 1 France ; (London, England; 22 October 1908)
World Cup
Appearances	12 (first in 1930)
Best result	Winners, 1998
European Championship
Appearances	7 (first in 1960)
Best result	Winners, 1984 and 2000
FIFA Confederations Cup
Appearances	2 (first in 2001)
Best result	Winners, 2001 and 2003

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Revision as of 22:46, 18 November 2009

The France national football team are a team consisting of a cheat named Thierry Henry 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 and former captain 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.

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, Roger Marche 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 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.

Late 1980s/Early 1990s

Platini was named coach of the French national side on November 1, 1988, replacing Henri Michel, who had been forced out after France infamously drew with Cyprus (1-1) in a 1990 World Cup qualifier. France's qualifying campaign was ultimately unsuccessful.

The focus of the team shifted to qualifying for the 1992 European Championship in Sweden. France excelled in the qualifying stages, winning all eight of their group matches, including notable victories away to Spain and Czechoslovakia. After a record 19-match unbeaten run, they were among the favourites to win the competition and Platini was named Manager of the Year by the World Soccer Awards. But a string of uninspiring performances in warm-up matches, followed by France's first-round elimination from the tournament, led Platini to step down as coach.

Gérard Houllier was named the new national team coach and was given the task of leading France to qualification for the 1994 World Cup. After starting with a loss away to Bulgaria, France went on an unbeaten run culminating in them requiring just one point from their final two games (at home against Israel and Bulgaria) to qualify. However, a shock 3-2 loss to Israel meant that France now required at least a draw against Bulgaria. With the score at 1-1, France looked set for qualification, but a last-minute goal from Bulgaria's Emil Kostadinov saw the French team eliminated with Bulgaria proceeding to the World Cup Finals in their place.

Houllier resigned and Aimé Jacquet took over the job of national coach. In preparation for Euro 96, Jacquet axed prominent players such as Jean-Pierre Papin and David Ginola, and decided to build the team around Eric Cantona making him the team's captain. However, Cantona received a 9-month ban from all football in 1995 after attacking an opposition fan and he too was never selected again. Jacquet now concentrated on a new generation of French players, most notably Zinedine Zidane.

Zinedine Zidane era

France's very successful years were the late 1990s because of 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. However, the team won the 1998 World Cup.

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 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 2000-2001.

2002 World Cup and Euro 2004

France failed to maintain that pace in subsequent tournaments. Although they won the Confederations Cup in 2001, they suffered a stunning goalless 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, in a 0-0 draw against Uruguay, 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, 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).

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 eight 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 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.

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.

2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification

Template:2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 7

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 after coming back from 2-0 down. In 2009, France resumed their qualification with a back to back 1-0 win over Lithuania, thanks to Franck Ribéry as he scored the only goal in both games on March 28 and April 1. A narrow 1-0 victory over the Faroe Islands in Tórshavn on 12 August 2009 was achieved thanks to a first-half goal by André-Pierre Gignac. Then, a disappoint 1-1 home draw with Romania followed by another 1-1 draw away to Serbia put France on the brink of missing out on the automatic qualification spot as group winners. Thierry Henry scored in both 1-1 draw matches and put his tally to 50 international goals. France has finished 2nd in the group behind Serbia and have to go to the play-off against the Republic of Ireland for a place in South Africa.

Republic Of Ireland 0 - 1 France On Saturday 14th November 2009 France met the Republic of Ireland in the first leg of the play-off. The score stayed level until Nicolas Anelka found the goal in the 72nd minute when his shot deflected off Sean St Ledger and ended up in the back of the net.

France 1 - 1 Republic of Ireland Damien Duff scored for Ireland and William Gallas scored for France.

Goalscorers during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

André-Pierre Gignac 4 goals
Thierry Henry 4 goals
Franck Ribéry 3 goals
Karim Benzema 2 goals
Sidney Govou 1 goal
Nicolas Anelka 1 goal
Yoann Gourcuff 1 goal
William Gallas 1goal

Representing multicultural France

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 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.4 years ago, at the 1954 FIFA World Cup, there was one player from France overseas, Xercès Louis, and two players from North Africa, Abderrahmane Mahjoub and Abdelaziz Ben Tifour. This tradition continued through the 1980s, when such successful players as Michel Platini, Jean Tigana, Luis Fernández, Manuel Amoros or Eric Cantona all had foreign-born parents.

During the 1990s, the team was 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 was born in Marseille to Algerian immigrants. Vikash Dhorasoo — the first French player of Indo-Mauritian origin - played in the 2006 World Cup. Meanwhile, several players are of African and 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. Florent Malouda was born in French Guiana. Similarly, current starlets like Karim Benzema, Samir Nasri and Hatem Ben Arfa were born to immigrant families from Algeria and Tunisia.

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]

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,^[4] international media speculated for days about the presence of a racist element in the exchange,^[5] observing that the Italian team contained no ethnic minorities.^[6]

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

World Cup record

Year	Result	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1930	Round 1	7	3	1	0	2	4	3
1934	Round 1	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	Third place	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	Fourth place	4	7	3	2	2	16	12
1986	Third place	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
2010	Qualification Playoff	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	12/18	1 Title	51	25	10	16	95	64

European Championship record

Year	Result	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1960	Semifinals	4	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	1	5	5	0	0	14	4
1988	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1992	Round 1	6	3	0	2	1	2	3
1996	Semifinals	4	5	2	3	0	5	2
2000	Champions	1	6	5	0	1	13	7
2004	Quarterfinals	5	4	2	1	1	7	5
2008	Round 1	15	3	0	1	2	1	6
Total	7/13	2 Titles	28	14	7	7	46	34

Confederations Cup record

Year	Result	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1997	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1999	Withdrew	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2001	Champions	1	5	4	0	1	12	2
2003	Champions	1	5	5	0	0	12	3
2005	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2009	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	2/8	2 Titles	10	9	0	1	24	5

*Draws include knockout matches decided by penalty shootout.

**Gold background colour indicates that the tournament was won. Red border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Manager Record

Name	Nat	Period	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses
Raymond Domenech		July 2004-Current	33	17	11	5*

This record does not include friendlies. Also, the World Cup 2006 penalty shoot out final is considered a draw on this record.

Current squad

Squad for 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification two-legged playoff match against the Republic of Ireland on 14 and 18 of November.

Caps and goals as of 18 November 2009, subsequent to the 2010 FIFA World Cup second leg playoff match against the Republic of Ireland.

#	Name	DOB	Club	Caps	Goals	Debut
Goalkeepers
1	Hugo Lloris	(1986-12-26) December 26, 1986 (age 37)	Lyon	8	0	v Uruguay; 19 November 2008
16	Steve Mandanda	(1985-03-28) March 28, 1985 (age 39)	Marseille	12	0	v Ecuador; 27 May 2008
	Cédric Carrasso	(1981-12-30) December 30, 1981 (age 42)	Bordeaux	0	0
Defenders
2	Bacary Sagna	(1983-02-04) February 4, 1983 (age 41)	Arsenal	16	0	v Slovakia; 22 August 2007
4	Julien Escudé	(1979-08-17) August 17, 1979 (age 45)	Sevilla	12	0	v Faroe Islands; 11 October 2006
5	William Gallas	(1977-08-17) August 17, 1977 (age 47)	Arsenal	78	3	v Slovenia; 12 October 2002
13	Patrice Evra	(1981-05-15) May 15, 1981 (age 43)	Manchester United	26	0	v Bosnia and Herzegovina; 18 August 2004
17	Sébastien Squillaci	(1980-08-11) August 11, 1980 (age 44)	Sevilla	18	0	v Bosnia and Herzegovina; 18 August 2004
	Rod Fanni	(1981-12-06) December 6, 1981 (age 42)	Rennes	4	0	v Tunisia; 14 October 2008
	Aly Cissokho	(1987-09-15) September 15, 1987 (age 36)	Lyon	0	0
	Éric Abidal	(1979-09-11) September 11, 1979 (age 45)	Barcelona	45	0	v Bosnia and Herzegovina; 18 August 2004
Midfielders
6	Lassana Diarra	(1985-03-10) March 10, 1985 (age 39)	Real Madrid	26	0	v Lithuania; 24 March 2007
7	Moussa Sissoko	(1989-08-16) August 16, 1989 (age 35)	Toulouse	2	0	v Faroe Islands; 10 October 2009
8	Yoann Gourcuff	(1986-07-11) July 11, 1986 (age 38)	Bordeaux	16	1	v Sweden; 11 August 2008
14	Sidney Govou	(1979-07-27) July 27, 1979 (age 45)	Lyon	42	10	v Tunisia; 22 August 2001
15	Florent Malouda	(1980-06-13) June 13, 1980 (age 44)	Chelsea	49	3	v Poland; 17 November 2004
18	Alou Diarra	(1981-07-15) July 15, 1981 (age 43)	Bordeaux	24	0	v Republic of Ireland; 9 October 2004
	Jérémy Toulalan	(1983-09-10) September 10, 1983 (age 41)	Lyon	30	0	v Faroe Islands; 11 October 2006
	Abou Diaby	(1986-05-11) May 11, 1986 (age 38)	Arsenal	2	0	v Lithuania; 24 March 2007
Strikers
3	Loïc Rémy	(1987-01-02) January 2, 1987 (age 37)	Nice	1	0	v Nigeria; 2 June 2009
9	Nicolas Anelka	(1979-03-14) March 14, 1979 (age 45)	Chelsea	63	14	v Sweden; 22 April 1998
10	Karim Benzema	(1987-12-19) December 19, 1987 (age 36)	Real Madrid	27	8	v Austria; 28 March 2007
11	André-Pierre Gignac	(1985-12-05) December 5, 1985 (age 38)	Toulouse	10	4	v Lithuania; 1 April 2009
12	Thierry Henry	(1977-08-17) August 17, 1977 (age 47)	Barcelona	117	51	v South Africa; 11 October 1997

Recent call-ups

Name	DOB	Club	Caps	Goals	Most recent callup
Goalkeepers
Nicolas Douchez	(1985-07-26) July 26, 1985 (age 39)	Rennes	0	0	v Austria; 14 October 2009
Yohann Pelé	(1982-11-04) November 4, 1982 (age 41)	Toulouse	0	0	v Uruguay; 18 November 2008
Defenders
Gaël Clichy	(1985-07-26) July 26, 1985 (age 39)	Arsenal	3	0	v Austria; 14 October 2009
Philippe Mexès	(1982-03-30) March 30, 1982 (age 42)	Roma	13	0	v Turkey; 5 June 2009
Jean-Alain Boumsong	(1979-12-14) December 14, 1979 (age 44)	Lyon	27	1	v Turkey; 5 June 2009
Adil Rami	(1985-12-27) December 27, 1985 (age 38)	Lille	0	0	v Lithuania; 1 April 2009
Mikaël Silvestre	(1977-08-09) August 9, 1977 (age 47)	Arsenal	40	2	v Uruguay; 18 November 2008
Midfielders
Patrick Vieira	(1976-06-23) June 23, 1976 (age 48)	Internazionale	107	6	v Turkey; 5 June 2009
Franck Ribéry	(1983-04-01) April 1, 1983 (age 41)	Bayern Munich	41	7	v Faroe Islands; 10 October 2009
Samir Nasri	(1987-06-26) June 26, 1987 (age 37)	Arsenal	15	2	v Lithuania; 1 April 2009
Rio Mavuba	(1984-03-08) March 8, 1984 (age 40)	Lille	6	0	v Lithuania; 1 April 2009
Hatem Ben Arfa	(1987-03-07) March 7, 1987 (age 37)	Marseille	7	1	v Serbia; 10 September 2008
Mathieu Flamini	(1984-03-07) March 7, 1984 (age 40)	Milan	3	0	v Serbia; 10 September 2008
Strikers
Bafétimbi Gomis	(1985-08-06) August 6, 1985 (age 39)	Lyon	5	2	v Austria; 14 October 2009
Loïc Rémy	(1987-01-02) January 2, 1987 (age 37)	Nice	1	0	v Serbia; 9 September 2009
Guillaume Hoarau	(1984-03-05) March 5, 1984 (age 40)	PSG	0	0	v Lithuania; 1 April 2009
Jimmy Briand	(1985-08-02) August 2, 1985 (age 39)	Rennes	3	0	v Argentina; 11 February 2009
Florent Sinama-Pongolle	(1984-10-20) October 20, 1984 (age 39)	Atlético Madrid	1	0	v Tunisia; 14 October 2008

Recent results

Date	Competition	Location	Home Team	Result	Away Team	Scorers
November 19, 2008	Friendly	Saint-Denis, France	France	0 – 0	Uruguay
February 11, 2009	Friendly	Marseille, France	France	0 – 2	Argentina
March 28, 2009	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification	Kaunas, Lithuania	Lithuania	0 – 1	France	Ribéry 67'
April 1, 2009	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification	Saint-Denis, France	France	1 – 0	Lithuania	Ribéry 76'
June 2, 2009	Friendly	Saint-Étienne, France	France	0 – 1	Nigeria
June 5, 2009	Friendly	Lyon, France	France	1 – 0	Turkey	Benzema 39' (pen.)
August 12, 2009	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification	Tórshavn, Faroe Islands	Faroe Islands	0 – 1	France	Gignac 42'
September 5, 2009	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification	Saint-Denis, France	France	1 – 1	Romania	Henry 48'
September 9, 2009	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification	Belgrade, Serbia	Serbia	1 – 1	France	Henry 31'
October 10, 2009	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification	Guingamp, France	France	5 – 0	Faroe Islands	Gignac 34', 39', Gallas 53', Anelka 86', Benzema 88'
October 14, 2009	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification	Saint-Denis, France	France	3 – 1	Austria	Benzema 18', Henry 26' (pen.), Gignac 66'
November 14, 2009	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification	Dublin, Ireland	Republic of Ireland	0 – 1	France	Anelka 72'

Forthcoming fixtures

Date	Competition	Location	Home Team	Result	Away Team	Scorers
November 18, 2009	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification	Saint-Denis, France	France	–	Republic of Ireland
March 3, 2010	Friendly	Saint-Denis, France	France	–	Spain

Coaching staff

Head Coach	Raymond Domenech
Assistant Coach	Alain Boghossian Pierre Mankowski
Goalkeeping Coach	Bruno Martini

Previous squads

Players

Most capped French players

As of 14 November 2009 the ten players with the most caps for France are:

#	Name	Career	Caps	Goals
1	Lilian Thuram	1994–2008	142	2
2	Marcel Desailly	1993–2004	116	3
=	Thierry Henry	1997–	116	51
4	Zinédine Zidane	1994–2006	108	31
5	Patrick Vieira	1997–	107	6
6	Didier Deschamps	1989–2000	103	4
7	Laurent Blanc	1989–2000	97	16
7	Bixente Lizarazu	1992–2004	97	2
9	Sylvain Wiltord	1999–2006	92	26
10	Fabien Barthez	1994–2006	87	0

Bold denotes players still playing or available for selection.

Top France goalscorers

As of 9 September 2009 the highest ten goalscorers for France are:

#	Player	Career	Goals (Caps)
1	Thierry Henry	1997–	51 (115)
2	Michel Platini	1976–1987	41 (72)
3	David Trézéguet	1998–2008	34 (71)
4	Zinédine Zidane	1994–2006	31 (108)
5	Just Fontaine	1953–1960	30 (21)
5	Jean-Pierre Papin	1986–1995	30 (54)
7	Youri Djorkaeff	1993–2002	28 (82)
8	Sylvain Wiltord	1999–2006	26 (92)
9	Jean Vincent	1953–1961	22 (46)
10	Jean Nicolas	1933–1938	21 (25)