Football Facts & Trivia

10. The French team is nicknamed Les Bleus (The Blues), in reference to their blue uniforms. They're also called L'Equipe tricolore (The Tricolour team), after the French flag.

9. France played in the inaugural World Cup in 1930. In fact team member Lucien Laurent scored the first ever World Cup goal against Mexico. But that wasn't enough to stop Argentina and Chile from blanking them 1-0 each. 

8. France has made 12 World Cup appearances, though 6 times they didn't make it past the First Round. They've also missed qualifying 6 times. But they've also taken Third Place twice, Second once, and the Cup once. 

7. The French side is coached by Raymond Domenech. A former defender with the French team and a bunch of French clubs, he led them to the World Cup final in 2006, and was the coach 2010 as well.

6. Lilian Thuram has the most caps for France with 142. He played for the French squad from 1994-2008, but retired early upon learning that he had a heart defect, the same that had killed his brother while playing basketball.

5. France's biggest win was against Azerbaijan in 1995, when they pummelled them 10-0. 

4. Thierry Henry is France's captain and top scorer with 51 goals. A star at Arsenal for many years, he switched to Barcelona, where he immediately won the league, cup and Champions League treble.

3. FIFA ranked France 7th before the 2010 World Cup, far from their glory days as number one in 2001-2. But rankings mean nothing to the French. Just before they won the World Cup in 1998, they were ranked 25th. 

2. France qualified for the 2010 World Cup just barely. After a poor start, they ended up edging out contender Ireland through a Thierry Henry handball, which everyone saw except the ref. Despite Irish appeals, the French are back again.

1. In 1998 France won the World Cup on home soil. They beat the defending champions Brazil 3-0 with two headers from Zinedine Zidane and a late goal in stoppage time from Emmanuel Petit.