⚽ France – Key Euros Stats ⚽
Euro appearances: 10
Euro titles: 2
Finest end: Winners (1984, 2000)
Euros report: W21 D12 L10
Targets scored: 69
Largest win: 5-0 (vs. Belgium in Euro 1984)
Participant to observe: Antoine Griezmann
World rating: 2nd
Staff nickname: Les Bleus (The Blues)
Group fixtures:
- June 17: Austria vs France (Dusseldorf Area, Dusseldorf, 9pm native/19:00 GMT)
- June 21: Netherlands vs France (Leipzig Stadium, Leipzig, 9pm native/19:00 GMT)
- June 25: France vs Poland (BVB Stadion, Dortmund, 6pm native/16:00 GMT)
How one can observe our Euro 2024 protection: UEFA Euro 2024 on Al Jazeera
Euro 2024 is the fifth successive main match that France will enter as favourites.
They’ve made it to the ultimate in three of the previous 4 World Cups and European Championships – and had been an Emiliano Martinez save away from being consecutive World Cup champions at Qatar 2022.
This astonishing stage of consistency might be credited to the seemingly bottomless pool of expertise the nation can draw from.
Take, for instance, how the emergence of Mike Maignan and William Saliba has offset the retirements of Hugo Lloris and Raphael Varane. Or how Aurelien Tchouameni has seamlessly plugged the Paul Pogba-shaped gap in midfield.
Equally, Marcus Thuram’s performances for Inter Milan this season have proven he’s prepared for the baton to be handed to him as soon as Olivier Giroud retires. The uninterrupted expertise provide chain has crossed over to a different French staff on the cusp of its subsequent main match at Euro 2024.
Tradition is vital
The staff tradition that supervisor Didier Deschamps adopts has added one other dimension to their ongoing success.
Regardless of the worldwide superstars at his disposal, his genius lies in how he will get them to place apart their egos when enjoying for the nationwide staff. The collective supersedes the person, and it’s a precept Deschamps has adhered to himself.
The reintegration of Adrien Rabiot and Karim Benzema – two gamers who the supervisor had fallen out with previously – earlier than Euro 2020 demonstrated this. Benzema scored 4 targets in 4 video games on the COVID-19 delayed match whereas Rabiot went on to ascertain himself as a key pillar within the France midfield.
Deschamps’s administration type is the right mix of belief and advantage. N’Golo Kante’s choice for Euro 2024 is the newest instance of this.
The 33-year-old’s profession has been beset by accidents within the final couple of years – he final performed for France in June 2022 and made simply 9 appearances for Chelsea within the 2022/2023 season. Following a transfer final summer season to Al Ittihad, the place he went on to play 44 video games, Deschamps believes Kante can once more be an asset to his aspect.
“He has had a full season, albeit not in a European league as he performs in Saudi Arabia, the place he has regained his full bodily health,” Deschamps mentioned as he introduced his squad on French TV channel TF1.
“And I believe that together with his expertise and his background, I’m satisfied that our staff will likely be stronger with him.”
The infusion of expertise into the squad has been matched by the injection of youth, with 18-year-old Warren Zaire-Emery and Bradley Barcola each incomes call-ups.
Griezmann the glue guy
Superstar Kylian Mbappe is the obvious centrepiece to this France side – the 25-year-old topped Les Bleus’ goals (9) and assists (5) charts in their unbeaten qualification campaign for Euro 2024.
However, as was the case in Qatar in 2022, the heartbeat of the team remains veteran forward Antoine Griezmann.
The Atletico Madrid star has been a constant presence in Deschamps’s managerial reign. His record of playing 84 consecutive games for France came to an end in the March friendlies against Chile and Germany, which he missed through injury.
Griezmann’s versatility makes him indispensable to Deschamps.
He came of age at Euro 2016 as a second striker, scoring six goals to win the Golden Boot.
At Euro 2020, he often found himself playing on the left of a front-three forward line to accommodate Mbappe and Benzema.
With France reeling from injuries at the 2022 World Cup, Deschamps decided to deploy him in midfield. The experiment worked, with Griezmann notching up the joint-highest assists total in Qatar.
It is a role he will reprise in Germany this summer, and at age 33, this is Griezmann’s last chance to win the trophy that has eluded him in his storied France career.
France’s current European Soccer championship appearances have been outlined by heartbreak.
At Euro 2016, they misplaced the ultimate in further time to Portugal on residence soil.
Simply when it felt like they had been hitting their stride at Euro 2020, they suffered a shock exit to Switzerland within the spherical of 16.
The World Cup win in 2018 doesn’t do justice to the extent of dominance France have proven over the previous decade. This 12 months’s Euros presents a golden alternative for Les Bleus to seal their legacy as top-of-the-line nationwide sides in historical past.
⚽ France’s last squad for Euro 2024 ⚽
Captain: Kylian Mbappe
Goalkeepers: Alphonse Areola (West Ham United), Mike Maignan (AC Milan), Brice Samba (Lens)
Defenders: Jonathan Clauss (Marseille), Ibrahima Konate (Liverpool), William Saliba (Arsenal), Jules Kounde (Barcelona), Theo Hernandez (AC Milan), Ferland Mendy (Actual Madrid), Benjamin Pavard (Inter Milan), Dayot Upamecano (Bayern Munich)
Midfielders: N’Golo Kante (Al Ittihad), Eduardo Camavinga (Actual Madrid), Adrien Rabiot (Juventus), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Aurelien Tchouameni (Actual Madrid), Warren Zaire-Emery (Paris Saint-Germain), Youssouf Fofana (AS Monaco)
Forwards: Kylian Mbappe (Actual Madrid), Bradley Barcola (Paris Saint-Germain), Ousmane Dembele (Paris Saint-Germain), Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich), Marcus Thuram (Internazionale), Randal Kolo Muani (Paris Saint-Germain), Olivier Giroud (Los Angeles FC)
You’ll be able to observe the motion on Al Jazeera’s devoted Euro 2024 match web page with all of the match build-up and dwell textual content commentary, and hold updated with group standings and real-time match outcomes and schedules.
