France’s FIFA World Cup wins: A famous double two decades apart
The France national football team has won the FIFA World Cup twice - in 1998 and 2018 - and will be looking to add a third in 2022.
Football
One of the 13 football teams which participated in the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930 hosted by Uruguay, France holds a special place in the history of the game.
The French football team, in fact, jointly holds the honour of recording the first-ever win in the FIFA World Cup. With the opening two matches of the inaugural World Cup being held simultaneously on July 13, 1930, France beat Mexico 4–1 at the Estadio Pocitos while the USA got the better of Belgium 3–0 at the Estadio Gran Parque Central in Uruguay.
French forward Lucien Laurent is regarded as the first goal-scorer at the FIFA World Cup courtesy his 19th-minute opening strike vs Mexico in the historic match.
Despite their rich history in the tournament and long-standing reputation as one of Europe’s elite teams, it took France almost seven decades to win the FIFA World Cup title for the first time - the 1998 edition on home soil.
After breaking their World Cup jinx in Paris, Les Bleus recaptured the World Cup trophy again in 2018, making them one of the only six teams, alongside Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Italy and Uruguay, to have won the coveted title multiple times.
So far, France have won the FIFA World Cup title twice, in 1998 at home and in 2018 in Russia. They came close twice having made the finals in the 2006 and 2022 editions but eventually lost to Italy and Argentina, respectively, in the penalties on both occasions.
Here’s a look back at France’s two FIFA World wins till date.
France’s FIFA World Cup wins
Despite winning their historic opener against Mexico convincingly at the 1930 World Cup, France made an early exit from the tournament after losing their subsequent Group 1 matches against eventual finalists Argentina and Chile.
Till 1994, France qualified for nine FIFA World Cup editions and managed to make the semi-finals only thrice, finishing third in 1958 and 1986 and fourth in 1982.
France’s first FIFA World Cup win - France 1998
After back-to-back top four finishes in the 1982 and 1986 World Cups sandwiching their maiden success at the Euros in 1984 under the legendary Michel Platini, the French football team’s performance graph took a nosedive in the early 1990s.
The steep dip was evident from the team’s failure to qualify for both Italy 1990 and USA 1994. The team also failed to make the cut for the Euros in 1988 and made a group stage exit from the 1992 European championships.
With France automatically qualifying for the FIFA World Cup 1998 courtesy of being the hosts, the qualifiers were averted but there were serious doubts about the team’s chances in the tournament, even from the home fans.
The results leading up to the tournament weren’t great and head coach Aime Jacquet’s decision to deploy a more pragmatic and defensive approach rather than the flamboyant style the French team was associated with drew sharp criticisms.
However, the draw favoured France as they were clubbed in Group C with Denmark, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
The home side began its campaign with a convincing 3-0 win over South Africa, with a 20-year-old Thierry Henry netting on his World Cup debut. Henry again scored a brace to down Saudi Arabia 4-0 before a solid defensive display helped France win their final group game against Denmark 2-1 to top the group.
Up against Paraguay in the Round of 16, the French side were far from convincing and it took a 114th minute Golden Goal by Laurent Blanc to take them to the quarter-finals, where they barely just edged past Italy 4-3 in a penalty shootout.
Though not a free-scoring team, France, under the leadership of the experienced Didier Deschamps and a host of upcoming stars like Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Patrick Viera, looked a well-drilled unit capable of scraping up the results they needed.
The grit and discipline was on full display yet again in the semi-finals as France outscored Davor Suker’s Croatia, an in-form team which had knocked out Germany in the quarters, 2-1. Interestingly, both of France’s goals in a come-from-behind victory were scored by defender Lilian Thuram. The brace proved to be Thuram’s only two international goals for France in a career which saw him don the Blue shirt in 142 matches.
The final against reigning champions Brazil promised to be an uphill task for the France strike. With Ronaldo firing on all cylinders and Brazil’s pedigree in World Cup finals, first-time finalists France were considered the underdogs in their own backyard.
The final at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, however, had another script in store. Zinedine Zidane headed in two corners in the first-half before Emmanuel Petit scored a stoppage time goal to seal off a 3-0 win for France and the mighty Brazil’s biggest defeat in a World Cup match at the time.
Ronaldo was kept under strict vigilance by the French defence for the entire match and had little impact on the match.
The French backline was pivotal in Les Bleus’ maiden World Cup triumph. Fabien Barthez, France’s goalkeeper in the tournament, only let in two goals in seven matches in FIFA World Cup 1998 and one of them was from a penalty.
France’s second FIFA World Cup win - Russia 2018
Following their maiden win in 1998, France unceremoniously were knocked out in the group stage in the 2002 edition. Zinedine Zidane inspired the team to the final in 2006 but France ended up losing the decider in penalties.
Another group stage exit at South Africa 2010 was followed by a quarter-final appearance at Brazil 2014.
With Didier Deschamps, the captain of the 1998 World Cup winning team as the coach, the French team qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia with relative ease, convincingly topping their UEFA qualifier group.
Drawn up against Denmark, Australia and Peru in Group C, France started slow with narrow 2-1 and 1-0 wins over Australia and Peru respectively, before playing out a 0-0 draw against Denmark. It was enough for them to top the group.
Up against Lionel Messi’s Argentina in the Round of 16, the French team came into its own, carving out an entertaining 4-3 win powered by a brace by Kylian Mbappe. The momentum continued with a 2-0 win against Uruguay in the quarters and a 1-0 win over pre-tournament favourite Belgium in the semis.
The challenge from Luka Modric’s Croatia in the final also fell short infront of the attacking talents in the French squad, with the match ending 4-2 in Les Bleus’ favour.
Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann were the stars of the show for Deschamps’ men in Russia with four goals each. The same duo were inspirational in France’s run to the 2022 final as well but couldn't see it through as Argentina toppled the reigning champions in a penalty shootout.