France's European Championships Record
The France football team, also known as The Blues, is considered and respected as one of the top sides in world football, at an international stage. From recent FIFA rankings (February 2008), the French rank 7th, before Portugal (8th) and after Czech Republic (6th). In the history of football, this team has enjoyed numerous eras which were characterised by the likes of Michel Platini, Eric Cantona and more recently Zinedine Zidane. The French squad were never short of big names, with French internationals playing at top clubs in England, Spain and France. Besides home-grown talent, the French squad boasts a high level of imported talent, where African (mainly) players gain French nationality and go on to play for France. Just to mention some examples, Thierry Henry, Louis Saha and Sylvain Wiltord all have Guadeloupian origin, Zidane has Algerian origin, Malouda was born in French Guyana, Vieira is an immigrant from Senegal, and Makelele has Congolese origin.
France is managed by Raymond Domenech and captained by Inter Milan player Patrick Vieira. Thierry Henry is the all-time top scorer for the team, with his tally standing at 44 goals. Home games are played at the Stade de France, Paris. The first time that the team appeared in a European Championship was in 1960 and since then has made 7 appearances in European tournaments, including the 2008 event. They failed to qualify for 5 European Championships in a row between 1964 and 1980, but they made a great comeback in the 1984 event, held in France, which they won. Then they missed Euro 1988 but qualified for the Euro 1992 held in Sweden, since 1992, they have not missed a European Championship, appearing in all 5 events (Euro 2008 included). They won Euro 2000 held in Belgium & the etherlands, lost in the semi-finals in Euro 1996 and were eliminated in the quarter-finals of Euro 2004. France qualified for Austria-Switzerland Euro 2008 with just 2 points more Scotland and behind bitter rivals Italy who won the group.
France was drawn in the most difficult group of the competition, having to face rivals Italy again, highly-rated Netherlands and promising Romania. France will kick off its Euro 2008 campaign against Romania, after losing out in the 2006 World Cup Final against the Italians on penalties, with the publicised event regarding Zinedine Zidane's head butt and sending off, France will be looking for revenge and to reclaim the top spot in Europe.
