The France national football team represents France in international football and it is controlled by the French Football federation.In 1904 national team became a member of FIFA and in 1954 a member of UEFA, moreover the French stand at the origins of these associations.
An interesting tidbit about the team is that it was the participant of the three pre-war World championships together with the national teams of Brazil, Belgium and Romania. The team was a success in 1958, finishing third in the World Cup.
France didn’t manage to boost its success till 1980. During that period Michel Platini, Jean Teagan, Luis Fernandez, Alain Giresse joined the team. Having these football stars, the team won the European Championship in 1984 and finished third in the World Cup of 1986.
The next wave of success followed in 14 years, when France won the World Cup in 1998 and Euro 2000. France was the first team in Europe to claim both world and continental titles in two years.
In 2006 France finished as runner-up in the World Cup conceding to Italy in penalty shootout. After that Zinedine Zidane, a famous football star, retired from the team.
In Euro 2008 France didn’t manage to reach play off stage. Qualifying tournament before the World Cup and the World Cup itself were rich in events. The team celebrated an arguable victory over Republic of Ireland with Thierry Henry netting the ball with the hand in play off game as the protest against the results of the game was declined.
The succession of events and rows that partially were true and partially were exaggerated by the media prevented France from passing the group stage. After the championship Raymond Domenech left his position and Laurent Blanc became the manager of the squad.
Lilian Thuram played the largest number of games (142) while Thierry Henry is the best goal-scorer (51).
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