Profile of FIFA U-17 World Cup Participants: France, 2001 Achievement Repeat

The French U-17 national team has strong confidence in becoming champions at the 2023 FIFA U17 World Cup in Indonesia. (Twitter @FFF)

JAKARTA - The 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup will be the eighth tournament that France has participated in. In Indonesia, which is hosting the U-17 World Cup, France is in Group E with Burkina Faso, South Korea and the United States.

As semifinalists in the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup edition, Les Bleuets came to Indonesia with the hope of winning the tournament. A target to repeat the achievements obtained at the 2001 event in Trinidad & Tobago.

To fulfill this ambition, France must go through the group stage at the Jakarta International Stadium. The first match was played on November 12 against Burkina Faso.

Then on November 15 2023 they will meet South Korea and on November 18 2023 they will face the United States.

France qualified for the 2023 U-17 World Cup after successfully beating England by a narrow score in the EURO U-17 quarter-finals. Achievements as semifinalists were obtained at the tournament in Hungary in the spring of 2023.

Furthermore, they reached the final, but lost the match which ended in a penalty shootout against Germany. As third place winners in Brazil 2019 and champions of the 2022 U-17 European Cup, Les Bleuets usually appear fierce in big tournaments.

And this time, with the achievements they have made, France is listed as one of the favorite teams to win in Indonesia.

France will be led by Coach Jean-Luc Vannuchi, a coach who was born in Marseille. It is noted that he joined the French Football Federation (FFF) in 2018 as a youth team coach.

While managing Auxerre, Luc Vannuchi was known for achieving the French Cup final in 2015. The former defender at Nice, Guingamp, Cannes and Nimes was noted for successfully leading France to the U-17 Euro final at the beginning of this year.

On the player side, Les Bluets have Mathis Lambourde, a versatile spearhead who made his first match at senior level in September 2023. The first match came when Rennes drew 2-2 with Lille at Roazhon Park.

This Lille-born player played an important role for the French U-17 national team, when he scored the winning goal against England at EURO 2023 in the 89th minute. A win to ensure France qualified for the 2023 World Cup.

France has appeared in the FIFA U-17 World Cup eight times. However, they only once crowned themselves champions when it was held in Trinidad & Tobago in 2001. At that time, Florent Sinama-Pongolle scored nine goals to win the Golden Boot and Golden Ball awards.

France has successfully qualified five times from the nine editions of the U-17 World Cup since then. However, they only reached the semifinals once, namely in the Brazilian edition which was held in 2019.