| Germany 2006: |
| FRANCE |
 |
|
| KEY FACTS |
| World Ranking |
| 5th |
| FRANCE NEWS |
| The French endured the closest group in qualifying, in Europe and elsewhere, which saw all matches between the top four teams, bar one, drawn. The one exception ultimatly decided the group with France beating Ireland. The win in Dublin allowed France to break the potentially damaging situation, with for and against coming into effect had they drawn and possibly being relegated to second or third. While Thierry Henry scored the important goal in Dublin, Djibril Cisse was top scorer with four goals. However France's failure to hammer Cyprus and the Faroes is concerning once more. |
| Qualifying Group Position |
| 1st |
| Group D |
| Top Scorers |
| Djibril Cisse |
| 4 Goals |
| QUALIFYING |
| 0-0 |
| Drew |
| 1-1 |
| Switzerland |
| Drew |
| 08-Oct-05 |
| 3-0 |
| Faroe Islands |
| Dft |
| 03-Sep-05 |
| 1-0 |
| Republic of Ireland |
| Dft |
| 07-Sep-05 |
| 4-0 |
| Cyprus |
| Dft |
| 12-Oct-05 |
| 2-0 |
| Faroe Islands |
| Dft |
| 08-Sep-04 |
| 26-Mar-05 |
| 0-0 |
| Republic of Ireland |
| Drew |
| 09-Oct-04 |
| 0-0 |
| Israel |
| Drew |
| 04-Sep-04 |
| Switzerland |
| 1-1 |
| Drew |
| 30-Mar-05 |
| Israel |
| 2-0 |
| Cyprus |
| Dft |
| 13-Oct-04 |
 |
 |
| FRANCE'S WORLD CUP HISTORY |
| Appearances (Champions in bold) |
| 1930, 1934, 1938, 1954, 1958, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1998, 2002, 2006 |
| SQUAD (club in brackets) |
| Goalkeepers |
| Fabien Barthez (Olympique Marseille, France) |
| Gregory Coupet (Olympique Lyon, France) |
| Mickael Landreau (Nantes, France) |
| Defenders |
| Eric Abidal (Olympique Lyon, France) |
| Jean-Alain Boumsong (Newcastle Utd, England) |
| Pascal Chimbonda (Wigan Athletic, England) |
| William Gallas (Chelsea, England) |
| Gael Givet (AS Monaco, France) |
| Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich, Germany) |
| Lilian Thuram (Juventus, Italy) |
| Midfielders |
| Vikash Dhorasoo (Paris St. Germain, France) |
| Alou Diarra (Racing Lens, France) |
| Claude Makelele (Chelsea, England) |
| Florent Malouda (Olympique Lyon, France) |
| Patrick Viera (Juventus, Italy) |
| Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid, Spain) |
| Forwards |
| Djibril Cisse (Liverpool, England) |
| Thierry Henry (Arsenal, England) |
| Franck Ribery (Olympique Marseille, France) |
| Louis Saha (Manchester United, England) |
| Mikael Silvestre (Manchester United, England) |
| David Trezeguet (Juventus, Italy) |
| Sylvain Wiltord (Olympique Lyon, France) |