Controlled and regulated by Fédération française de football, the French national team plays their home matches at Stade de France in Paris. The reason they are called Les Bleus, or The Blues, is their blue kits. Interestingly enough, blue is the dominant colour in most of French sports uniforms.
Regarding the team composition, it is worth mentioning that Les Bleus have had quite a diverse gallery of players over the years. They were well ahead of their time as they had a black player in 1931. It was Raoul Diagne, who later played in the 1938 FIFA World Cup. Let us take a closer look at the team’s achievements over the years.
First Win
On the 12th February 1905, France scored their first win against Switzerland. Too bad Matchbook bonus code didn’t exist at the time to bet on their success! The match was played in France and the only goal-scorer of the match was one Gaston Cyprus.The first international match was against Belgium and it ended in a draw 3-3. It wouldn’t be until 1930 that France gets its own place on the world stage.
First Goal in the World Cup
Lucien Laurent was the team’s forward that was fortunate and skilled enough to make the team’s history. In a match against Mexico, France won with 4-1, with Laurent scoring the first goal in the 19th minute of the match. This was not just the first goal that France scored, it was the first goal ever. Lucien Laurent was cited saying that he was not aware of the significance of this feat that took place in 1930.
After the War
The world needed a new beginning after World War II, and few more so than France. The rebuilding of the country demanded help and labour from former colonies. Something similar could be said of football. In 1958, the team reached the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup, only to lose to Brazil.
The fall continued, as Yugoslavia snatched victory away from France during the UEFA European Football Championship in 1960 that Les Bleus hosted, no less. The score was originally 4-2 for the French team and it turned around in a few minutes to 5-4 in favor of Yugoslavia.
The 60s and Onwards
The team’s gameplay began to suffer, though somewhat earlier than that of its peers. They failed to qualify for the World Cup more than once, and they lost the group stage in 1966. The first successful team manager after a few years of mishaps was Michel Hidalgo.
Before the 1984 UEFA European Championship, Hidalgo created a small experiment with four players. They were Michel Platini, Jean Tigana, Alain Giresse, and Luis Fernández. These four never played all at the same time before, though the individual members had cooperated well with one another in the past. He placed them in the middle of the field in a square formation that would be known in years to come as the Magic Square.
Zinedine Zidane
Though he is considered a citizen of both France and Algeria, he spent almost twenty years playing for the French national team. The first World Cup he took part in was in 1998, where he made history, but not only the way you think – he was given a red card in the finals. He scored two goals before that, however, allowing the team to score the third and secure the first World Cup victory. This was just one of his many football achievements.
