France

With the lowest points total of any of Europe's eight group winners, make no mistake France stumbled into their sixth successive major tournament by the skin of their teeth. Having drawn four of their opening six fixtures, the returns from international exile of Zinedine Zidane and Claude Makelele ultimately made the difference. The former World Cup winners sparked a revival which delivered crucial points in Dublin and Berne before Cyprus were put to the sword in Paris to confirm progression.

For vast stages of qualification, it was a close run thing. France not only failed to beat both Switzerland (who they will meet again in the group phase) and Israel, Raymond Domenech's side struggled to find the back of the net despite an unparalleled treasure trove of attacking riches. The dilemmas for Domenech are multitude: who to play upfront alongside Thierry Henry (Trezeguet, Cisse, Anelka, Saha, Govou, Wiltord), how to best exploit the intricacy of Zidane, how much youth to blood before the tournament's start plus the decision on his best goalkeeper. For a side which was dumped out of its last World Cup adventure in the first round, making the last 16 in a straight-forward looking Group G is by no means guaranteed.

Coach: Raymond Domenech (FRA)
FIFA Ranking: 5

France Matches

Match #	Date & Time	Group	Teams		Result	Venue
13	Tue 13th Jun 18:00	G	FRA	SUI	0 - 0	Stuttgart
29	Sun 18th Jun 21:00	G	FRA	KOR	1 - 1	Leipzig
45	Fri 23rd Jun 21:00	G	TOG	FRA	0 - 2	Cologne
56	Tue 27th Jun 21:00	R2	ESP	FRA	1 - 3	Hanover
60	Sat 1st Jul 21:00	QF	BRA	FRA	0 - 1	Frankfurt
62	Wed 5th Jul 21:00	SF	POR	FRA	0 - 1	Munich
64	Sun 9th Jul 20:00	FIN	ITA	FRA	1 - 1 aet 5 - 3 pen	Berlin

Match times shown are local times for Germany (CEST/GMT+0200). Click on match date/time to view match statistics.

Past World Cup performance

First Round: 1930, 1934, 1954, 1966, 2002
Quarter Finals: 1938
Fourth Place: 1982
Third Place: 1958, 1986
Winners: 1998

Key Players

Zinedine Zidane
Thierry Henry

World Cup 2006 Qualification

Winners of European Qualifying Group 4 ahead of Switzerland. By the luck of the draw, France and Switzerland will be meeting each other again in Group G at the 2006 World Cup finals.

Squad

						Total		World Cup 2006
#	Posn	Name	DOB	Club		Caps	Goals	Pld	Goals	OG	YC	RC
1	GK	Landreau Mickael	14-05-1979	Nantes	FRA	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	DF	Boumsong Jean-Alain	14-12-1979	Newcastle	ENG	19	1	0	0	0	0	0
3	DF	Abidal Eric	11-09-1979	Lyon	FRA	15	0	6	0	0	2	0
4	MF	Vieira Patrick	23-06-1976	Juventus	ITA	95	6	7	2	0	1	0
5	DF	Gallas William	17-08-1977	Chelsea	ENG	48	1	7	0	0	0	0
6	MF	Makelele Claude	18-02-1973	Chelsea	ENG	51	0	7	0	0	2	0
7	MF	Malouda Florent	13-06-1980	Lyon	FRA	19	2	6	0	0	1	0
8	MF	Dhorasoo Vikash	10-10-1973	Paris St-Germain	FRA	19	1	2	0	0	0	0
9	FW	Govou Sidney	27-07-1979	Olympique Lyonnais	FRA	23	3	4	0	0	0	0
10	MF	Zidane Zinedine	23-06-1972	Real Madrid	ESP	109	31	6	3	0	3	1
11	FW	Wiltord Sylvain	10-05-1974	Lyon	FRA	88	26	7	0	0	0	0
12	FW	Henry Thierry	17-08-1977	Arsenal	ENG	86	36	7	3	0	0	0
13	DF	Silvestre Mikael	09-08-1977	Manchester Utd.	ENG	40	2	1	0	0	0	0
14	FW	Saha Louis	08-08-1978	Manchester Utd.	ENG	13	2	3	0	0	2	0
15	DF	Thuram Lilian	01-01-1972	Juventus	ITA	122	2	7	0	0	1	0
16	GK	Barthez Fabien	28-06-1971	Marseille	FRA	88	0	7	0	0	0	0
17	DF	Givet Gael	09-10-1981	Monaco	FRA	11	0	0	0	0	0	0
18	MF	Diarra Alou	15-07-1981	Lens	FRA	11	0	2	0	0	0	0
19	DF	Sagnol Willy	18-03-1977	Bayern Munich	GER	46	0	7	0	0	3	0
20	FW	Trezeguet David	15-10-1977	Juventus	ITA	66	32	3	0	0	0	0
21	DF	Chimbonda Pascal	21-02-1979	Wigan	ENG	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
22	MF	Ribery Frank	07-04-1983	Marseille	FRA	11	1	7	1	0	1	0
23	GK	Coupet Gregory	31-12-1972	Lyon	FRA	18	0	0	0	0	0	0