The history of the France national football team dates back to 1904. The national team, also referred to as Les Bleus, 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 and was one of eight national teams to have won the competition, which they did in 1998 when they hosted the cup. They defeated Brazil 3–0 in the final. France has won two World Cups, one in 1998, another in 2018. France has also won two UEFA European Championships, first in 1984, led by Ballon d'Or winner Michel Platini, and then in 2000, led by FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane. Following France's 2001 Confederations Cup victory, they became, along with Germany, Brazil and Argentina, the only national teams to win the FIFA World Cup, the FIFA Confederations Cup, and the Olympic Tournament. They also won the UEFA Nations League in 2021.
Early years
A France national team played in the 1900 Olympics under the name of USFSA XI, or Club Français. They finished second. The team was officially created in 1904 around the same time of FIFA's foundation on 21 May 1904. Before FIFA's creation, France contested international matches under the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA), the now-defunct French sports union. In preparation for the 1900 Summer Olympics held in Paris, the USFSA formed a national team composed of players from French clubs. The USFSA team eventually earned the silver medal following an 0–4 defeat in the gold medal match to Upton Park F.C., who were representing Great Britain. Between the years 1900 and 1904, under USFSA authority, France contested five matches, one against Belgium, a 6–2 victory and four against England, all defeats.
France's first ever game was held on 1 May 1904 in a match against Belgium that ended in a 3–3 draw. The match was played at the Stade du Vivier d'Oie in Uccle (Brussels) and the three French goals came from Louis Mesnier, Marius Royet, and Gaston Cyprès. On 12 February 1905, France contested their first home match against Switzerland, played at the Parc des Princes in front of 500 supporters. France won the match 1–0 with the only goal coming from Cyprès. Later that year, France returned to Brussels to face Belgium and lost 0–7. In the return match, played a year later on 22 April 1906 in Saint-Cloud, France again lost 0–5 to the Belgians. On 11 November, France were defeated 0–15 by England before defeating Belgium 2–1.
On 7 June 1908, a FIFA delegation ruled that the USFSA still had control of the France national team for Olympic competition. Due to this, France had to send two teams, called France A and B, to the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, a rare occurrence. The main difference between the teams, other than the players, were that France A, who were controlled by FIFA, matches would be recorded as official matches and France B, who were controlled by the USFSA, matches would not. The teams arrived in the city on the same day as the matches, following an extensive journey by boat and train from France. France B were eliminated in the quarter-finals following an 0–9 defeat by Denmark, while France A went out in the semi-finals to the same team following a 1–17 crushing, in which Sophus Nielsen scored a record ten goals. Following the Olympics, on 9 May 1908, the French Interfederal Committee (CFI), a rival organisation to the USFSA, ruled that FIFA would now be responsible for the club's appearances in forthcoming Olympic Games and not the USFSA. As a founding member of the International Olympic Committee (ICO), the USFSA disagreed with the ruling and, despite having three years to reach an agreement, the two organisations failed to, which led to France not sending a football team to the 1912 Summer Olympics. Due to numerous disagreements with FIFA and the IOC, the USFSA eventually became disorganised and in 1913, became semi-affiliated with the CFI. In 1919, the CFI transformed themselves into the Fédération Française de Football or French Football Federation.
Following the creation of the FFF, the national team developed stability. Their first official match under the federation's watch was against Belgium on 9 March 1919. The match ended in 2–2 draw with both of France's goals coming from Gabriel Hanot. One of the country's biggest victories during this era was a 2–1 victory over England. The victory was France's first over England after having contested over ten matches against them, all England wins. In 1921, the USFSA finally merged with the French Football Federation. The merger effectively put an end to the difficult process of selecting players for the national team since the FFF were now the sole selector. As a result, federation members Gaston Barreau, Jean Rigal, Maurice Delanche, and Jacques Caudron formed a selection committee to oversee the selection process of the players. Barreau also was installed as the unofficial manager of the team.
In 1923, the national team lost six consecutive matches, including a 1–2 defeat by Spain and a 1–9 thrashing from the Netherlands in Amsterdam. The win-less streak ended on 13 January 1924 with a 2–0 victory over Belgium in Paris. France then lost to both Switzerland in March and England in May in preparation matches for the 1924 Summer Olympics. At the Games, France reached the second round, following a 7–0 victory over Latvia, before falling 1–5 to Uruguay. Four years later at the 1928 Summer Olympics, France failed to advance past the first round losing to Italy 3–4.
Birth of the World Cup In July 1930, France appeared in the inaugural FIFA World Cup, in Uruguay. France was the only group with four teams, along with Argentina, Mexico, and Chile. In their first World Cup match, France defeated Mexico 4–1 at the Estadio Pocitos in Montevideo. Lucien Laurent scored not only France's first World Cup goal, but the first goal in World Cup history. In the 40th minute, Marcel Langiller scored the second goal in World Cup history, a minute before Bart McGhee's goal for the United States against Belgium. Despite the dream start, France were beaten by the eventual group winners Argentina losing 0–1 after a goal by Luis Monti in the 81st minute. They later lost by the same scoreline to Chile.
A month after the World Cup, France returned to South America to face Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. Despite leading after 20 minutes, with goals from Edmond Delfour, France failed to hold the lead following goals from Arthur Friedenreich and Heitor Dominguez, with the latter scoring two. The following year, France earned back-to-back victories over Germany (1–0) and England (5–2). Both matches were played in Colombes at the Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, which had become the nation's national stadium, alongside the Parc des Princes. Raoul Diagne, who was of Senegalese descent and the first black player to play for France, earned his first cap on 15 February 1931 in a 1–2 defeat by Czechoslovakia. He later played with the team at the 1938 FIFA World Cup, alongside Larbi Benbarek, who was the first player of North African origin to play for the national team. In June 1932, the national team toured the Balkans where they faced Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Romania. France finished the trip with one victory and two losses with their only win coming against the Bulgarians (5–3), courtesy of a hat trick from Jean Sécember.
On 15 April 1934, France began qualification for the 1934 FIFA World Cup by beating Luxembourg 6–1 in Luxembourg City. The victory meant qualification for the World Cup where France faced Austria in the first round. The group stage used in the first World Cup was discarded in favour of a straight knockout tournament. In the match, which went to extra time, France lost 2–3 following extra time goals from Anton Schall and Josef Bican. On the team's return to Paris, they were greeted as heroes by a crowd of over 4,000 supporters. In the first match following the World Cup defeat, France defeated Yugoslavia 3–2 in front of 37,000 supporters at the Parc des Princes.
As hosts of the 1938 FIFA World Cup, France automatically qualified for the competition. In the first round, France faced long-time rivals Belgium and defeated them 3–1, with two goals from Jean Nicolas and one of the fastest goals scored in World Cup history by Émile Veinante. In the quarter-finals, France faced defending champions Italy, who beat them 1–3. Italy later defended their title defeating Hungary 4–2 in the final.
Due to World War II, FIFA suspended both the 1942 and 1946 FIFA World Cups. National team play was put on hold, returned, then was put on hold for a second time before finally returning on a permanent basis following the conclusion of the war. The first suspension of play lasted from 29 January 1940, following France's 3–2 victory over Portugal, until 8 March 1942 when France returned to play losing 0–2 to Switzerland. France contested one more match, a 0–4 defeat by Spain, before play was suspended again on 16 March 1942. France returned to play on Christmas Eve 1944 defeating Belgium 3–1 in Paris.
The Golden generation of the 1950s Following the war, FIFA re-instated the World Cup and France played Yugoslavia for a place in the 1950 FIFA World Cup. The first two matches the teams played, on 10 and 31 October, ended in 1–1 draws, so FIFA announced that a play-off on neutral ground in December would be played. To prepare themselves for the match, France faced and defeated Czechoslovakia 1–0 in November. In the play-off match, held at the Stade Giovanni Berta in Florence, Italy, France lost 2–3 following an extra time goal from Željko Čajkovski, thus being eliminated from qualification.
France got revenge on 2 February 1951, defeating Yugoslavia 2–1. The 1950s saw the arrival of Just Fontaine, Raymond Kopa, Jean Vincent, Robert Jonquet, Maryan Wisnieski, Thadée Cisowski, and Armand Penverne to the national team. The majority of the national team consisted of players from French clubs Lille, Saint-Étienne, and Stade Reims, with the last being at the zenith of their historic strength during this period. Led by captains Jean Baratte and Roger Marche, France went on a six-match unbeaten streak beginning on 20 April 1952 following a 2–0 victory over Portugal. During the streak, France faced West Germany and defeated them 3–1. The streak came to an end on Christmas Day 1952 with a 0–1 loss to Belgium. France cruised through the qualifying process for the 1954 FIFA World Cup as they were grouped with the Republic of Ireland and Luxembourg. They went undefeated in the group scoring 20 goals and conceding only four. At the World Cup, which was held in Switzerland, the group stage of the competition returned and France were placed with Brazil, Yugoslavia and Mexico, though they only had to play the latter two. In their opening match against Yugoslavia, France lost 0–1. They were victors in the second match defeating Mexico 3–2, but were unable to advance to the next round due to their head-to-head result with Yugoslavia, who advanced.
1958 World Cup