France national football team

The French national football team represents the nation of France in international football. It is fielded by the French Football Federation and competes as a member of UEFA. France won the 1984 European Championship. France then reached an even higher status in international football by being especially successful at the end of the 1990s and in the 2000s; and the European Football Championship two years later. Midfielder Zinedine Zidane was particularly instrumental in achieving those honours. Nickname of France National Footbal is Les Bleus (The Blues). France's most successful years were the late 1990s, the generation of Zinédine Zidane . This team started off well by reaching the semi-finals of Euro 96.

Euro 2000
Jacquet stepped down after France's World Cup triumph and was succeeded by assistant Roger Lemerre who guided them through Euro 2000.

Euro 2004
A full strength team started out strongly in Euro 2004, with Zidane scoring a free kick and a penalty to overcome a 0-1 deficit and defeat England in the group stage, but they were upset in the quarter-finals by the eventual winners, Greece. Jacques Santini resigned as coach and Raymond Domenech was picked as his replacement.

Euro 2008 Qualifiers
France started its qualifying round for Euro 2008 on September 2, 2006 by beating Georgia in Tbilisi 3-0.

European Championship record
1960 - semifinal
1964 - did not qualify
1968 - did not qualify
1972 - did not qualify
1976 - did not qualify
1980 - did not qualify
1984 - champions
1988 - did not qualify
1992 - round 1
1996 - semifinal
2000 - champions
2004 - quarterfinals
2008 - qualified

Famous past players :
Fabien Barthez
Laurent Blanc
Eric Cantona
Marcel Desailly
Didier Deschamps
Youri Djorkaeff
Bixente Lizarazu
Ludovic Giuly
David Ginola
Christophe Dugarry
Emmanuel Petit
Robert Pirès
Michel Platini
Zinedine Zidane