, member of the national team from 1994 to 2006. The
France national football team represents France in international football. France was one of the four European teams that participated at the
inaugural World Cup in 1930 and are one of eight national teams to have won the competition, which they did in 1998 when they hosted the Cup, defeating
Brazil 3–0 in the
final. They won their second world title 20 years later, after defeating
Croatia 4–2 in the
final of the
2018 edition in Russia. France also won two
European Championships in
1984 and
2000, and hosted the tournament on three occasions, including their victorious 1984 campaign. Following France's
2001 Confederations Cup victory, they became the first national team to win the three most important men's titles organised by
FIFA: the
FIFA World Cup, the
FIFA Confederations Cup, and the
Olympic Tournament. This would be followed with
Argentina and
Brazil's victories at the Summer Olympics in 2004 and 2016. France additionally went on to win a
UEFA Nations League title in
2021. , member of the national team since 2009. The
France women's national football team represents the country in international
women's football. France initially struggled on the international stage failing to qualify for three of the first
FIFA Women's World Cups and the six straight
UEFA European Championships before reaching the quarter-finals in the
1997 edition of the competition. However, since the beginning of the new
millennium, France have become a mid-tier national team and one of the most consistent in
Europe, having qualified for their first-ever FIFA Women's World Cup in
2003 and reaching the quarter-finals in the last three consecutive European Championships. They also hosted the
2019 Women's World Cup, reaching the quarter-finals. The
France national youth football teams consists of age-specific national teams beginning with the
France national under-16 football team and ending with the
France national under-21 football team. Since the coaching tenure of
Aimé Jacquet, there is an unwritten rule among
senior national team coaches that players called up to the national team must have had prior international experience with the under-21 team.
Overseas departments national teams The following
overseas department national teams act as
feeder teams for the
France national football team. All teams are run by their respective federation under the authority of the French Football Federation. , from
Guadeloupe, is the nation's second-most capped male football player. As an overseas department of the
French Republic, each national team is not a member of
FIFA, therefore they are not eligible to enter the
World Cup. However, since inhabitants of the overseas departments are French citizens, players are eligible to play for the
France national football team. Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, and French Guiana are associate members of
CONCACAF and are full members of the
Caribbean Football Union, and are thus eligible for all competitions organized by both, while Réunion are associate members of
CAF. Indeed, according to the status of the FFF (article 34, paragraph 6):
"[...]Under the control of related continental confederations, and with the agreement of the FFF, those leagues can organize international sport events at a regional level or set up teams in order to participate to them." A special rule of the
CONCACAF Gold Cup only allows players to join the team if they have not played for France during the previous five years. On the other hand, any player joining the team is allowed to join the France national team afterward with no time restrictions. The use of
overseas department players has been extremely beneficial for the France national team.
Lilian Thuram and
Bernard Lama, who were born in
Guadeloupe and
Martinique, respectively, were a part of the winning team at the
1998 FIFA World Cup. Also on the team were
Thierry Henry and
Bernard Diomède, who, though born in metropolitan France, were descendants of parents from overseas departments. Currently,
Florent Malouda (French Guiana),
William Gallas,
Mikaël Silvestre,
Michaël Ciani (Guadeloupe),
Nicolas Anelka (Martinique), and
Guillaume Hoarau and
Florent Sinama Pongolle (Réunion) are members of the national team who either hail from or whose families hail from the overseas departments. == French football stadiums ==