Didier Deschamps – arguably one of the best tacticians in world football – is hoping to continue his successful tenure as France manager by bringing home yet more silverware at the European Championships this summer. Les Bleus will get their Euro 2024 campaign underway on June 17th, facing Austria at the Düsseldorf Arena.
With the tournament now just mere days away, here is everything you need to know about France.
Entering his 12th year of leadership – despite only having signed a two-year contract in 2012 – Deschamps is hoping to add the final piece of silverware he needs to complete the treble of major tournaments as a manager. Only the European title remains; he has already guided Les Bleus to a World Cup victory in 2018, before following that up with the Nations League win in 2021.
Deschamps is no stranger to success, having captained his country in his playing days to the 1998 World Cup, and then the EUROs title in 2000 before hanging up his international boots shortly afterward. These back-to-back major tournament victories saw France become the first team since West Germany in 1974, and second overall, to hold both titles at the same time. This was a feat that Spain later surpassed in 2008 and 2012.
The closest he came to EUROs glory as a manager, though, was back in 2016. France reached the final on home soil, but lost 1-0 by Portugal at the Stade de France after a rare goal from Éder – and a super strike at that – in extra-time which all but sealed their fate. That was also the game that saw Ronaldo forced off on a stretcher in the first half with injury. Les Bleus failed to progress as deep into the competition in 2021, when they were eliminated in the round of 16 on penalties by Switzerland.
Their route to this year’s tournament was fairly plain sailing, topping a group that also featured the Netherlands, Greece, the Republic of Ireland and Gibraltar. France got their qualification campaign underway with a stunning 4-0 victory over the Dutch; Antoine Griezmann scored in just the second minute of the contest, before Dayot Upamecano doubled their lead after eight minutes thanks to some questionable defending on a free-kick by the Oranje. Kylian Mbappé would score a brace to seal the thunderous start.
Routine wins followed over Ireland, Gibraltar, Greece, then Ireland again, in which they won 1-0, 3-0, 1-0, and 2-0.
In matchday 7, France conceded their first goal of campaign, with Hartman of the Netherlands scoring a late goal in the 83rd minute – but the damage was already done with another Mbappé brace to seal the French 2-1 victory. After a 14-0 victory over Gibraltar at the Allianz Riviera in Nice, in which there were nine different scorers and an own goal, Les Bleus were seeking a flawless winning campaign. Greece rained on that parade, forcing France to come from behind to draw 2-2, but it was still a pretty forceful statement of intent.
The latter of their two pre-tournament friendlies, though, didn’t perhaps go entirely according to Deschamps’ plan. After a 3-0 win over Luxembourg with goals from Randal Kolo Muani, Jonathan Clauss, and Mbappé, they were held to a 0-0 stalemate against Canada.
However, they will still be confident of topping a tough Group D this summer and going on a deep run through the knockout stages. They will come up against the Netherlands again, with Austria and Poland making up the rest of the group.
Their opener on June 17th against Austria in Düsseldorf may not be as much of an easy ride as is first assumed. Das Team had a pretty successful qualification run, finishing secondGroup F and narrowly missing out by a point to group leaders Belgium. Opta give Austria a 24.3% chance of reaching the quarter-final stage.
France then travel to Leipzig on June 21st, where they will arguably face their toughest test of the group against the Netherlands. The recent ruling-out of the injured Frenkie De Jong for the Dutch could see Deschamps’ side ever so slightly favoured in this contest.
Their third and final group clash comes against Poland, who have injury scares of their own. Barcelona forward Robert Lewandowski had to be subbed off in the first half of their final Euro warm-up friendly over Turkey on Monday, and will miss their tournament opener – but he could be back in time to face the French. The fixture will take place in Dortmund on June 25th.
ITV will broadcast France’s first match against Austria, before BBC take command of their other two group games. We will also be providing detailed coverage of Les Bleus right here at FromTheSpot.
As you would expect, Deschamps has a wealth of talent to draw upon for these fixtures; his named 26-man-squad includes players from across all of Europe’s top leagues. Seven play in Ligue 1, with four of those currently at Paris Saint-Germain. Madrid also has four representatives including newly signed Mbappé, along with Eduardo Camavinga, Aurélien Tchouaméni, and Ferland Mendy.
AC Milan and Bayern Munich each have three players in the French squad. Three Premier League clubs are represented through William Saliba (Arsenal), Ibrahim Konaté (Liverpool), and Alphonse Areola (West Ham). Perhaps a surprise inclusion was the recall of 33-year-old N’Golo Kanté who switched out West London for Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad. last summer.
Predicted XI – Maignan, Koundé, Konaté, Upamecano, T. Hernandez, Tchouameni, Camavinga, Griezmann, Dembélé, Mbappé, Giroud.
The world will be watching Kylian Mbappé after he almost led France to back-to-back World Cup glory in his last major tournament outing, scoring a hattrick against eventual champions Argentina. However, keep your eyes peeled for 18-year-old Warren Zaïre-Emery who could be one of the breakout stars not only for France, but of the whole competition… if he gets the minutes, that is.
The youngster, who previously captained the U21s, only stepped up to make his full international debut in November. He scored in that game against Gibraltar and has flourished under Luis Enrique at PSG, where he broke record upon record. He is the youngest player to play a match for PSG in all competitions, making his debut at just 16 years old, and also became the club’s youngest ever goal scorer 180 days later.
Zaïre-Emery plays far beyond his years, demonstrating a level of calmness out on the field that you’d expect from seasoned pros. He also has an innate ability to nick the ball back off the opposition, hold it up in tight areas, and then link the play by feeding passes through the midfield and attacking lines.
Whether he is awarded many, if any, minutes by Deschamps is the question – but if he does get some under his belt, expect him to take full advantage of his opportunities on the field.
You can read more about France’s Group D opponents and follow their potentially historic campaign in detail here on FromTheSpot.
