France

The France national football team (French: Équipe de France de football) represents France in men’s international football matches. It is governed by the French Football Federation (FFF; Fédération française de football), the governing body for football in France. It is a member of UEFA in Europe and FIFA in global competitions. The team’s colors and imagery reference two national symbols: the French red-white-blue tricolour and Gallic rooster (coq gaulois). They are colloquially known as Les Bleus (The Blues). France plays their home matches at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis and maintain their national training facility, INF Clairefontaine, in Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines.

Founded in 1904, the team has won two FIFA World Cups, two UEFA European Championships, two FIFA Confederations Cups, one CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions and one UEFA Nations League title. France experienced much of its success in three different eras: in the 1980s, from the 1990s to early-2000s as well as the late-2010s, respectively, which resulted in numerous major honours. France was one of the four European teams that participated in the first World Cup in 1930. Twenty-eight years later, the team, led by Raymond Kopa and Just Fontaine, finished in third place at the 1958 World Cup. In 1984, under the leadership of the three-time Ballon d’Or winner Michel Platini, France won Euro 1984 (its first official title), a CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup (1985) and reached another two World Cup semi-finals (1982 and 1986).

During the captaincy of Didier Deschamps, and with Zinedine Zidane on the pitch, Les Bleus won the World Cup in 1998 and triumphed at Euro 2000. They also won the Confederations Cup in 2001 and 2003. Three years later, France made it to the final of the 2006 World Cup, losing 5–3 on penalties to Italy. A decade later, the team reached the final of Euro 2016, where they lost 1–0 to Portugal in extra time. Two years later, France won the 2018 World Cup, its second title in that competition. They became the first European national team to have won every senior FIFA and UEFA competition after winning the 2021 Nations League. France has footballing rivalries with Belgium,Brazil,Croatia,England,Germany,Italy,Portugal,and Spain.