France national football team

The France national football team represents France is international. It is controlled by the Fédération Française de Football.

Early years
The France national football team was formed around the time that FIFA] was formed in 1904. This was as they played their first match on May 1, 1904, against in Brussels with the nation getting a 3-3 draw. After joining FIFA, they would compete in the first FIFA World Cup as the host nation. For France, they would be drawn with and Ireland in Group 3. After getting a nil all to draw in their opening game against Austria, they struggled against the Irish team with being the goalscorer for Ireland which would get the Irish the win and relegating the French to the bottom of the table.

After the national team slumped to the worst match to date at the 1908 Summer Olympics with the team losing by sixteen goals to with FIFA taking control of the national team instead of the USAFA that had been the case for the past four years. This would be followed by a first-round exit to Ireland at the 1910 FIFA World Cup in which FIFA controlled. USAFA still not happy with the ruling that occurs tried to fight the battle but the last attempting ended in misery as France sent a team to the 1914 FIFA World Cup in England where they finished second in Group D behind newcomers to make the knockout stage for the first time. There, they would lose to at London by a score of two goals to one.

Formation of new Federation
After the first World War ended in Europe, the French Football Federation was born from the ashes of the USAFA and with the national federation being more organised, the team started to put in some results their way. Entering the 1922 FIFA World Cup, they started in the quarter-finals where they would lose 3-2 to the eventual champions in despite a late comeback from  and. That international form continued at home as they were eliminated in the quarter-finals at the 1924 Summer Olympics on home soil when they were smashed five-nil to.

France entered the qualification for the 1926 FIFA World Cup in Spain with some hopes of qualifying for the tournament. That simple hope though wouldn't be the case as they had to enter the playoffs after finishing behind Italy in their qualifying group. Heading to Egypt, they defeated by five goals with  getting a hat-trick to get France into the World Cup. In the World Cup, they were in Group C with Uruguay, Belgium and. Once again, they struggled at international level with the national team getting two draws against Belgium and Sweden but a lost to Uruguay would eliminate the national team again in the group stage. This would be followed by a first-round defeat to Italy in the following Olympic tournament

France's next tournament was qualifying for the 1930 FIFA World Cup with the national team being drawn in Group 1.2 with, Belgium and in the group. For the French, they would qualify as the group winners with the national team going three from three which included a five-one drubbing of Portugal. This meant that they qualified for the group stage, where they were drawn in Group C with the, and the. For the French, they would fall at the first hurdle yet again as they finished with a win over the United States (2-0) and a draw against Argentina (1-1). But the loss to the Dutch sealed their fate once again as Argentina leapfrog them into second and knocking the French out of the tournament.

The next major tournament for France was the first edition of the WEFF Championships which was also the qualifier for the 1934 FIFA World Cup to be held in Italy. With the competition being held over the English channel, the French team was drawn in Group B with, Belgium and the hosts. After getting a one all draw against Portugal, the French got lucky as an own goal from gave France the victory over the hosts in Nottingham. This put them in the box seat to qualify and they would make the semis after defeating Belgium 3-1 with scoring a double. After knocking off the Netherlands in the semi-final, they would defeat in the final to secure their first trophy and a spot at the 1934 FIFA World Cup in Italy.

Being drawn into Group B with Italy, and Belgium, the national team finished in second with a win over Belgium, followed by two draws against Irish Free State and Italy gave them a spot into the quarters where they took on Argentina. Throughout the match, Argentina controlled most of the game and almost had getting a goal to give them in the lead in the 55th minute of play. But the French held off on that and an eighty-fifth-minute strike from gave the French a spot into the semis. After defeating Wales 3-0 in the semis, they verse Italy in the final for a shot to be champion. With the crowd against them, the national team would lose by a single goal from Giuseppe Meazza with the national team finishing runner-up (which was also their best result at the time)

FIFA World Cup
Gold  Silver   Bronze

European Nations Cup
Gold  Silver   Bronze