FRANCE 98 – Team Detail

France, the hosts of the last World Cup this century, have not competed in the finals since 1986 in Mexico.

This will be their 10th appearance, though they have rarely shined in the event. Only in the 1958 finals in Sweden (3rd), in Spain in 1982 (4th) and in Mexico in 1986 (3rd) have they distinguished themselves. But it is Frenchman Just Fontaine who set the record for goalscoring when he scored 13 in the ’58 finals – a record unlikely to be surpassed.

Under Michel Hidalgo, France also won the European Championship on home soil in 1984 with a team boasting the likes of Michel Platini, Alain Giresse and Jean Tigana.

Since then, even if France produced a host of talented players who carved out golden careers for themselves, such stars as Papin, Cantona, Ginola, Boli and Di Meco, were unable to deliver the same success for the national side. In two World Cup’s running France found itself failing to qualify for the final stages. It was a last second goal by Bulgaria in November 1993 that was France’s biggest qualifying blow. The defeat meant that like in Italy ’90, France were forced to watch the ’94 World Cup in the United States on television.

At club level, France underachieved up to the 1990s, when Marseille at last succeeded in winning a European trophy by lifting the 1993 European Champions Cup after six French teams had reached finals and lost — Reims (1956-1959), Saint-Etienne (1976), Bastia (1978), Marseille (1991) and Monaco (1992). In recent years, the fine performances of French clubs in Europe (notably Paris SG’s 1996 European Cup Winners’ Cup victory) have led to an exodus of the best French players to richer clubs in Italy, Spain and England.

Some 80 percent of current French coach Aimé Jacquet’s squad for the 1998 finals will be players based abroad. It will be a heavy burden for the team, playing before a public who saw them begin their careers, to bring an end to France’s long, dismal record. It was in 1984 that France won their last international title – winning the European Championship by beating Spain 2-0. France were the hosts – perhaps a good omen for ’98.