Team created by a collaborative effort of 27DONI72, Milos, StuartBannigan and gurkenjoe93











Honours:

• FIFA World Cup

Winners (2): 1998, 2018
Runners-up (2): 2006, 2022
Third place (2): 1958, 1986
Fourth place (1): 1982

• UEFA European Championship

Winners (2): 1984, 2000
Runners-up (1): 2016
Fourth place (1): 1960
Semi-Final (2): 1996, 2024

• UEFA Nations League

Winners(1): 2021

• FIFA Confederations Cup

Winners (2): 2001, 2003


COACH: Michel HIDALGO




The best ever French players 23-man squad



GOALKEEPERS:

● Joël BATS
● Fabien BARTHEZ

DEFENDERS:

● Robert JONQUET
● Marius TRÉSOR
● Maxime BOSSIS
● Manuel AMOROS
● Laurent BLANC
● Marcel DESAILLY
● Bixente LIZARAZU
● Lilian THURAM

MIDFIELDERS:

● Alain GIRESSE
● Michel PLATINI
● Jean TIGANA
● Luis FERNÁNDEZ
● Didier DESCHAMPS
● Zinédine ZIDANE
● Patrick VIEIRA

FORWARDS:

● Raymond KOPA
● Just FONTAINE
● Dominique ROCHETEAU
● Thierry HENRY
● Antoine GRIEZMANN
● Kylian MBAPPÉ


_____________________________________________________________


RESERVES:


GOALKEEPERS:

● Julien DARUI
● George CARNUS
● Hugo LLORIS

DEFENDERS:

● Étienne MATTLER
● Roger MARCHE
● Raymond KAELBEL
● André LEROND
● Jean DJORKAEFF
● Bernard BOSQUIER
● Christian LOPEZ
● Gérard JANVION
● Patrick BATTISTON
● Raphaël VARANE

MIDFIELDERS:

● Edmond DELFOUR
● Oscar HEISSERER
● Armand PENVERNE
● Jean-Jacques MARCEL
● Henri MICHEL
● Emmanuel PETIT
● Youri DJORKAEFF
● Claude MAKÉLÉLÉ
● Paul POGBA
● N'Golo KANTÉ

FORWARDS:

● Émile VEINANTE
● Jean NICOLAS
● Alfred ASTON
● Jean BARATTE
● Roger PIANTONI
● Jean VINCENT
● Didier SIX
● Jean-Pierre PAPIN
● David TRÉZÉGUET
● Olivier GIROUD

I agree with this.

Neuer is 1000000 better and he is not in Germany AS NT.
(I know Germany had far better Gks in his history than France)

And about the new generation?

I think it's too soon to include someone other than Lloris since he has completed more than 100 caps.. I'm pretty sure in the future they will be included but for the moment I think the team it's ok..

Completely updated this team:

Marche > Jonquet
Djorkaeff > Vincent
Piantoni > Griezmann
Cleaned up the reserves

isn't Griezmann a bit overrated choice?

He was arguably the best player of one of only 2 French teams to win the World Cup. I don't think modern players should be held to higher standards than older players; I doubt you'd ask that question about Djorkaeff and Piantoni who were previously in the team, and Griezmann has been more important in France's success than they were.

No, he isn't, Griezmann have reached a perfomance peak that perhaps only 6-7 offensive players of France have reached (Zizou, Titi, Platoche, Justo, Napoleon, Canto, JPP and maybe Cobra and Franck Ribéry, this last player unfortunately had a debatible mediocre career in Lé Équipe outside the 2006 WC)

I personally think he shouldn't be here just because he's still on his (late) 20's and he's still playing, but look what all the relevant offensive players did with the NT of France had through its history, he has undoubtedly earned his place.

In the next couple of years, it should be debatable whether N'Golo Kanté must be named here either as a reserve or as a full member here.

That's why I objected to his 23-man squad entrance. In general Griezmann has been having a pretty good national stint but I believe it's too early to include him. I won't doubt his achievements and he might be already better than some of his predecessors as Stuart said but I think for the moment he can't beat classic likes of Cantona, Trezeguet or Papin.

If we had to declare a leader that would be him probably but France operated perfectly at both offence and defence. Mbappe and Kante had a major impact as well. Another factor was that France had the most physical team. I don't believe they won it prior to a technical or tactical masterclass nor the leadership of Griezmann. And by no means I would include to an all-star team a player whose national career began 5 years ago. We should evaluate his entrance in the future.

Cantona and Papin didn't do anything relevant for France, all they did was bottled the 1992 Euro when they floored their way in during the qualifiers and failed to appear in 2 World Cups in their prime + France contained a nice pool of players considering that Ligue 1 was having one of their best eras which is even more tragic if you ask me (Needless to say that Cantona couldn't shut his mouth up which led him to avoidable suspensions, but I guess that's part of his legacy lol)

Treze, besides scoring the winner against Italy in the 2000 EC, was largely the bench of Henry, that's like adding Lebœuf in the main squad I guess.

Yep all the facts are totally understood. I just wasn't sure that only national performance counts. Also I'm kinda prejudiced with Antoine because of the hype sometimes media attach to him, not to forget the fact Antoine himself released a documentary declaring him as a legend(totally unnecessary). Imo he is a great all-arounder in terms of abilities and a great tool for any coach but does not possess something world class to say. And I was kinda disappointed watching him recently at Barca. Eventually I can do nothing but compromise, since not only you but other sites as well select him to the final squad.

Doesn't Mbappe already deserve to be among the 23? He played very well in the 2018 cup, although he was not the main player, and in 2022 he had an epic cup, being top scorer and scoring three goals in the final. Maybe he can replace Vincent or Rocheteau

Surely instead Henry who was a big flop in big WC games

Are you really suggesting to replace Henry, one of the greatest players in France history and the NT top scorer until November 2022?

Henry being a great french player ≠ Henry being a great France NT player.

Otherwise Benzema should be up there in first 23 too, but he's isn't.