FRANCE

The Team
 
NAME
POSITION
AGE
CLUB
       
Fabien Barthez
GK
24
AS Monaco
Bernard Lama
GK
34
non-affiliated
Lionel Litizi
GK
26
Metz
 
 
 
 
Laurent Blanc
D
32
Olympique Marseille
Marcel Desailly
D
29
AC Milan
Lilian Thuram
D
25
Parma
Vincent Candela
D
24
Roma
Bruno N' Gotty
D
26
Paris St. Germain
Bixente Lizarazu
D
27
Bayern Munich
Franck Leboeuf
D
29
Chelsea
 
 
 
 
Pierre Laigie
M
27
Sampdoria
Didier Deschamps
M
29
Juventus
Zinidine Zidane
M
25
Juventus
Emmanuel Petit
M
27
Arsenal
Christian Kerembeu
M
27
non-affiliated
Alain Boghossian
M
27
Sampdoria
Franck Gava 
M
27
Paris St. Germain
Patrick Vieira
M
24
Arsenal
 
 
 
 
Youri Djorkaeff
F
29
Inter Milan
Ibrahim Ba
F
24
AC Milan
Stephane Guivarc'h
F
27
AJ Auxerre
Christophe Dugarry
F
25
Barcelona
Florian Maurice
F
24
Paris St. Germain
Robert Pires
F
24
Metz
Patrice Loko
F
27
Paris St. Germain
 
 
The Coach

AIME JACQUET, 56, took over as French national coach when the game was domestically in the doldrums.  France, under Gerald Houiller had just been eliminated from the 1994 World Cup by Bulgaria, losing their last qualifying match to a last minute goal.  Bulgaria won the game 2-1 and went to the United States, and France stayed at home.  Now Jacquet's responsibility is nothing short of winning the World Cup.  Jacquet, a softly-spoken man, often criticised for preferring the shadow of the training camps to the spotlight of media attention, has spent the last three years building a new team without former stars Eric Cantona, David Ginola and Jean- Pierre Papin.  A tireless worker, highly dedicated to his job, he is widely expected to leave after the World Cup finals whatever France archieves.
 
 

How They Qualified
 
AS HOST NATION
 
 
 World Cup Record
 
1930
1st Round
1934
1st Round
1938
2nd Round
1954
1st Round
1958
Third Place
1966
1st Round
1978
1st Round
1982
Fourth Place
1986
Third Place