2022 World Cup Team Profile: France

France national team (Twitter @FrenchTeam)

JAKARTA - The French national football team is the defending champion of the World Cup. They reigned in Russia in 2018 after beating Croatia 4-2 in the final. The French squad will look to defend their title at this edition of the World Cup in Qatar.

Profile overview

Squad name: France National Football Team Nickname: Les Bleus (The Blues) Association: Federation Francaise de Football (FFF) Head coach: Didier Deschamps Captain: Hugo Lloris Most Caps: Lilian Thuram (142) Top scorer: Thierry Henry (51 ) Home stadium: Stade de France FIFA code: FRA Current FIFA ranking: 3 (as of May 2022) Highest FIFA rating: 1 Lowest FIFA rating: 26 (September 2010) World Cup appearances: 15 (first in 1930) Best result in the Cup World: Champions (1998, 2018) Confederation: UEFA Nickname

The media and supporters of the French national team often refer to this squad as Les Bleus (The Blues), a nickname associated with the country's international sports clubs because of the blue jersey they wear.

FIFA Ranking

Les Bleus are currently fourth in the FIFA rankings as of June 2022 with 1764.85 points. The team is ranked first in the World Cup qualifying group with 18 points. They had a great qualifying campaign going unbeaten.

France's top player

The French national football team has played host to many of the best players in world football. These are the players who play an important role in each of the clubs they play for. The following are two of the best players in the country's history:

Thierry Henry

It is easy to cite Henry's contribution to the French national team because of his outstanding club career. France's victory in the 1998 World Cup could not be separated from his contribution where he ended the tournament as France's top scorer with three goals.

Henry was supposed to come on as a substitute in the final, where France beat Brazil 3-0. But the sending off of Marcel Desailly forced a defensive change instead. In the same year, he was awarded the title of Knight of the Legion of Honor, France's highest honor.

When Les Bleus won the European Cup two years later, Henry scored three goals in the tournament, including against Portugal in the semifinals and Italy in the final, where he was voted Man of the Match.

Zinedine Zidane

Three headers and two in between in the 1998 World Cup final are just some of the highlights of Zinedine Zidane's international career. However, his playing days ended in controversy following his header into Marco Materazzi's chest at the 2006 World Cup. Zizou always walked the fine line between his intelligence and his dark side.

For many, the World Cup final still holds a special place in their hearts. Zidane's final will live on. The Stade de France lifted into the night sky with two superb first-half headers that caught the continent's attention.

2022 World Cup provisional squad

Goalkeeper

Mike Maignan Alphonse Areola Hugo Lloris Defender Raphael Varane Jules Kounde Lucas Hernandez Presnel Kimpembe William Saliba Theo Hernandez Lucas Digne

Midfielder

N'golo Kante Aurelien Tchouameni Paul Pogba Matteo Guendouzi Adrien Rabiot Jonathan Clauss Christopher Nkunku Striker Olivier Giroud Moussa Diaby Kingsley Coman Antoine Griezmann Kylian Mbappe Wissam Ben Yedder Karim Benzema

Here's our line-up for the last game of the season Allez les Bleus #FRACRO | #FiersdetreBleus pic.twitter.com/gzowEEnssV

— French Team (@FrenchTeam) June 13, 2022

Team captain

The current captain of Les Bleus is Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who is also one of the goalkeepers with the most caps in the history of the French national team.

Player Name: Hugo Hadrien Dominique Lloris Nickname: Saint Lloris Player age: 35 (as of June 2022) Birthday: 26 December 1986 Place of birth: Nice, France Wife: Marine Lloris Jersey number: 1 Current club: Tottenham Hotspur Previous club: Lyon Playing position: Goalkeeper Preferred foot: Left Player's height: 1.88 meters Net worth: 30 million US dollars Salary: 5.4 million US dollars

Hugo Lloris is making his 139th outing for Les Bleus tonight! Our keeper and captain is just 3️⃣ caps short of Lilian Thuram's all-time record: 142 #AUTFRA #FiersdetreBleus pic.twitter.com/o2Ecui67Xd

— French Team (@FrenchTeam) June 10, 2022

Trainer

The head coach of the French national team is Didier Deschamps. The manager is a former French national team player. He retired in 2001 and has been manager of Les Bleus since 2012. He captained the France team that won the FIFA World Cup in 1998.

Full name: Didier Claude Deschamps Date of birth: October 15, 1968 Place of birth: Bayonne, France Age: 53 (as of June 2022) France at the World Cup

One of four European teams to compete in the first World Cup, France won the tournament in 1998 when it hosted and are one of eight national teams to have won the competition since 1930. In the final, they beat Brazil 3-0.

The French national team won their second World Cup trophy in 2018 in Russia. In the final, they beat Croatia 4-2 at the Luzhniki Stadium.

2022 World Cup

Defending world champions France will play in the 16th World Cup. This year's Qatar World Cup will be its seventh consecutive participation in the competition since the finals in 1998, when the country won its first title.

In Qatar, France occupy Group D with Australia, Denmark and Tunisia. Here is the schedule for their group stage matches:

Tuesday, 22 November 2022France vs Australia: 20:00 WIB Wednesday, 23 November 2022Denmark vs Tunisia: 02:00 WIB Saturday, 26 November 2022France vs Denmark: 17:00 WIBTunisia vs Australia: 23:00 WIB Wednesday, 30 November 2022Tunisia vs France: 22:00 WST Australia vs Denmark: 22.00 WIB

Here's our group for the 2022 @FIFAWorldCup, plus the match schedule! Les Bleus will face Denmark , Tunisia and the winner of the intercontinental play-off between Peru and Australia or the UAE .#FiersdetreBleus pic.twitter.com/EtC8Avm1i1

— French Team (@FrenchTeam) April 3, 2022

trophy

Les Bleus have achieved a number of extraordinary successes during their long history. The following is a list of significant awards received by the French national team:

World Cup: 1998 and 2018 European Cup: 1986 and 2000 UEFA Nations League: 2021 Confederations Cup: 2001 and 2003

#FiersdetreBleus pic.twitter.com/Dh4xTYi3Al

— French Team (@FrenchTeam) October 10, 2021