France

Early years (1900–1930s)

The France national football team was created in 1904, around the time of FIFA's foundation. The team competed in its first official international match on 1 May 1904 against Belgium in Brussels, ending in a 3–3 draw. The following year, on 12 February 1905, France contested their first-ever home match against Switzerland. The match was played at the Parc des Princes in front of 500 supporters. France won the match 1–0 with the only goal coming from Gaston Cyprès. Due to disagreements between FIFA and the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA), the country's sports union, France struggled to establish an identity. On 9 May 1908, the French Interfederal Committee (CFI), a rival organization to the USFSA, ruled that FIFA would now be responsible for the club's appearances in forthcoming Olympic Games and not the USFSA. In 1919, the CFI transformed themselves into the French Football Federation (FFF). In 1921, the USFSA finally merged with the FFF.

In July 1930, France appeared in the inaugural FIFA World Cup, held in Uruguay. In their first-ever World Cup match, France defeated Mexico 4–1 at the Estadio Pocitos in Montevideo. Lucien Laurent became notable in the match as he scored not only France's first World Cup goal, but the first goal in World Cup history. Conversely, France also became the first team to not score in a World Cup match after losing 1–0 to group stage opponents Argentina. Another loss to Chile resulted in the team bowing out in the group stage. The following year saw the first selection of a black player to the national team. Raoul Diagne, who was of Senegalese descent, earned his first cap on 15 February in a 2–1 defeat to Czechoslovakia. Diagne later played with the team at the 1938 World Cup, alongside Larbi Benbarek, who was one of the first players of North African origin to play for the national team. At the 1934 World Cup, France suffered elimination in the opening round, losing 3–2 to Austria. On the team's return to Paris, they were greeted as heroes by a crowd of over 4,000 supporters. France hosted the 1938 World Cup and reached the quarterfinals, losing 3–1 to defending champions (and eventual 1938 winners) Italy.

1950s–1980s

France's first 'Golden Generation' in the late 1950s comprised players such as Just Fontaine, Raymond Kopa, Jean Vincent, Robert Jonquet, Maryan Wisnieski, Thadée Cisowski, and Armand Penverne. At the 1958 World Cup, France reached the semi-finals losing to Brazil. In the third-place match, France defeated West Germany 6–3 with Fontaine recording four goals, which brought his goal tally in the competition to 13, a World Cup record. The record still stands today. France hosted the inaugural UEFA European Football Championship in 1960. For the second straight international tournament, the team reached the semi-finals, but were defeated 5–4 by Yugoslavia despite being up 4–2 heading into the 75th minute. In the third-place match, France was defeated 2–0 by Czechoslovakia.

The 1960s and 70s saw France decline significantly playing under several managers and failing to qualify for numerous international tournaments. On 25 April 1962, Henri Guérin was officially installed as the team's first manager. Under Guérin, France failed to qualify for the 1962 World Cup and the 1964 European Nations' Cup. The team returned to major international play with qualification for the 1966 World Cup, but did not make it past the group stage phase of the tournament. Guérin was fired following the World Cup. He was replaced by José Arribas and Jean Snella, who worked as caretaker managers in dual roles. The two only lasted four matches and were replaced by former international Just Fontaine, who in turn was only in charge for two matches. Louis Dugauguez succeeded Fontaine and following his early struggles in qualification for the 1970 World Cup, was fired and replaced by Georges Boulogne, who could not get the team to the competition. Boulogne was later fired following his failure to qualify for the 1974 World Cup and was replaced by the Romanian Ștefan Kovács, who became the only international manager to ever manage the national team. Under the management of Kovács, France failed to qualify for UEFA Euro 1976. After two years in charge, he was sacked and replaced with Michel Hidalgo.

Under Hidalgo, France flourished, mainly due to the accolades of great players like defenders Marius Trésor and Maxime Bossis, striker Dominique Rocheteau and midfielder Michel Platini, who, alongside Jean Tigana, Alain Giresse and Luis Fernández formed the "carré magique" ("Magic Square"), which would haunt opposing defenses beginning at the 1982 World Cup, where France reached the semi-finals losing on penalties to rivals West Germany. The semi-final match-up is considered one of the greatest matches in World Cup history and was marked by controversy. France finished fourth overall, losing the third-place playoff 3–2 to Poland. France earned their first major international honor two years later, winning Euro 1984, which they hosted. Under the leadership of Platini, who scored a tournament-high nine goals, France defeated Spain 2–0 in the final. Platini and Bruno Bellone scored the goals. Following the Euro triumph, Hidalgo departed the team and was replaced by former international Henri Michel. France subsequently won gold at the 1984 Summer Olympics football tournament and, a year later, defeated Uruguay 2–0 to win the Artemio Franchi Trophy, an early precursor to the FIFA Confederations Cup. Dominique Rocheteau and José Touré scored the goals. In a span of a year, France were holders of three of the four major international trophies. At the 1986 World Cup, France were among the favorites to win the competition. For the second consecutive World Cup, they reached the semi-finals and faced West Germany. Again, they were defeated by Germany but achieved third place with a 4–2 victory over Belgium.

In 1988, the FFF opened the Clairefontaine National Football Institute. Its opening ceremony was attended by then-President of France, François Mitterrand. Five months after Clairefontaine's opening, manager Henri Michel was fired and was replaced by Michel Platini, who failed to get the team to the 1990 World Cup.

First World Cup victory and other successes in the Zidane era (1990s–2000s)

Platini did lead the team to Euro 1992 and, despite going on a 19-match unbeaten streak prior to the competition, suffered elimination in the group stage. A week after the completion of the tournament, Platini stepped down as manager and was replaced by his assistant Gérard Houllier. Under Houllier, France and its supporters experienced a major disappointment in failing to qualify for the 1994 World Cup. With two matches to play, qualification had been all but secured with matches remaining against last-placed Israel and in-contention Bulgaria. However, France was upset at home by Israel 3–2 after leading 2–1 late in the match and, against Bulgaria, conceded a 90th-minute goal for a 2–1 defeat. The subsequent blame and public outcry led to the firing of Houllier and departure of several players, from the national team fold. Houllier's assistant Aimé Jacquet was appointed as manager.

Under Jacquet, the national team achieved multiple successes. The squad comprised some experienced players from the group that had failed to reach the 1994 FIFA World Cup as well as some talented younger players, such as Zinedine Zidane. The team reached the semi-finals of Euro 1996, where they lost 6–5 on penalties to the Czech Republic. The team's next major tournament was the 1998 World Cup, which France hosted. France went through the tournament undefeated and became the seventh nation to win the World Cup, defeating Brazil 3–0 in the final at the Stade de France in Paris. Jacquet stepped down after the country's World Cup triumph and was succeeded by assistant Roger Lemerre who guided them through Euro 2000. Led by FIFA World Player of the Year Zidane, France defeated Italy 2–1 in the final. David Trezeguet scored the golden goal in extra time. The victory gave the team the distinction of holding both the World Cup and Euro titles, a feat first achieved by West Germany in 1974; this was also the first time that a reigning World Cup winner went on to capture the Euro. Following the result, the France national team was accorded the number one spot in the FIFA World Rankings. In the following year, the team won the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup.

After this period of achievement, France were much less successful in subsequent tournaments, and failed to make it past the group stage at the 2002 World Cup. One of the greatest shocks in World Cup history saw France defeated 1–0 by debutantes Senegal in the opening game of the tournament. France became only the second nation to be eliminated in the first-round as World Cup holders, the first being Brazil in 1966. After the 2010, 2014, and 2018 World Cups, Italy, Spain, and Germany were also added to this list. After France finished bottom of the group, Lemerre was dismissed and was replaced by Jacques Santini. A full-strength team started out strongly at Euro 2004, but they were upset in the quarter-finals by the eventual winners Greece. Santini resigned as coach and Raymond Domenech was picked as his replacement. France struggled in the early qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup. This prompted Domenech to persuade several past members out of international retirement to help the national team qualify, which they accomplished following a convincing 4–0 win over Cyprus on the final day of qualifying. In the 2006 World Cup final stages, France finished undefeated in the group stage portion and advanced to the final, defeating Spain, Brazil, and Portugal in the knockout matches. France played Italy in the final. The match finished 1–1 after extra time. Zinedine Zidane had given France an early lead through a Panenka penalty which hit the crossbar before bouncing past the goal line, however Italy defender Marco Materazzi equalised from a header 7 minutes later. Italy ended up winning 5–3 on penalties to be crowned World Cup champions. The match featured a notable incident during extra time between Zidane and Materazzi in which Zidane headbutted Materazzi and was sent off. This was Zidane's last appearance in a football match as he announced previously that he would retire from football after the 2006 World Cup.

Downfall (2007–2015)

France started its qualifying round for Euro 2008 strong and qualified for the tournament, despite two defeats to Scotland. Despite the good performance in the qualifiers, France performed poorly at the final tournament, ending in last place of their group, behind Netherlands, Italy and Romania, obtaining just one point after a 0–0 draw with the Romanian side. Just like the team's previous World Cup qualifying campaign, the 2010 campaign got off to a disappointing start with France suffering disastrous losses and earning uninspired victories. France eventually finished second in the group and earned a spot in the UEFA play-offs against the Republic of Ireland for a place in South Africa. In the first leg, France defeated the Irish 1–0 and in the second leg procured a 1–1 draw, via a controversial act by France forward Thierry Henry, to qualify for the World Cup.

In the 2010 World Cup final stages, the team continued to perform under expectations and were eliminated in the group stage, while the negative publicity the national team received during the competition led to further repercussions back in France. Midway through the competition, striker Nicolas Anelka was dismissed from the national team after reportedly having a dispute, in which obscenities were passed, with team manager Raymond Domenech during half-time of the team's loss to Mexico. The resulting disagreement over Anelka's expulsion between the players, the coaching staff and FFF officials resulted in the players boycotting training before their third game. In response to the training boycott, Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot lectured the players and "reduced France's disgraced World Cup stars to tears with an emotional speech on the eve of their final group A match". France then lost their final game 2–1 to hosts South Africa and failed to advance to the knockout stage. The day after the team's elimination, it was reported by numerous media outlets that then President of France Nicolas Sarkozy would meet with team captain Thierry Henry to discuss the issues associated with the team's meltdown at the World Cup, at Henry's request. Following the completion of the World Cup tournament, Federation President Jean-Pierre Escalettes resigned from his position.

Domenech, whose contract had expired, was succeeded as head coach by former international Laurent Blanc. On 23 July 2010, at the request of Blanc, the FFF suspended all 23 players in the World Cup squad for the team's friendly match against Norway after the World Cup. On 6 August, five players who were deemed to have played a major role in the training boycott were disciplined for their roles, and Nicolas Anelka also received an 18-match ban, effectively ending the forward's international career.

At Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine, France reached the quarter-finals, where they were beaten by eventual champions Spain. Following the tournament, coach Laurent Blanc resigned and was succeeded by Didier Deschamps, who captained France to glory in the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. His team qualified for the 2014 World Cup by beating Ukraine in the play-offs. At the 2014 World Cup, France lost to eventual champions Germany in the quarter-finals courtesy of an early goal by Mats Hummels.

Renewed success (2016–present)

France automatically qualified as hosts for Euro 2016. France advanced to the knockout stages, before defeating the Republic of Ireland and Iceland. In the semi-final, France defeated Germany 2–0, marking their first win over Germany at a major tournament since 1958. France, however, were beaten by Portugal 1–0 in the final courtesy of an extra-time goal by Eder.

At the 2018 FIFA World Cup, France finished top of their group to advance to the last 16. France subsequently defeated Argentina 4–3 in the round of 16 and then Uruguay 2–0 to qualify for the semi-final stage, where they beat Belgium 1–0 courtesy of a goal from defender Samuel Umtiti. On 15 July, France beat Croatia in the final 4–2 to win the World Cup for the second time.

UEFA Euro 2020 was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At Euro 2020, France finished top of a group containing Germany, Portugal and Hungary, which was described by pundits as the "group of death". However, they were eliminated by Switzerland in the round of 16. The Swiss had held France to a 3–3 draw in normal time before winning on penalties.

At the 2022 FIFA World Cup, France looked to defend their title in Qatar. After finishing top of their group, France did manage to reach a second successive World Cup final, defeating Poland, England and Morocco in the knockout stages. However, they were defeated on penalties by Argentina after a thrilling 3–3 draw.