French national football team (U-21 men)

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France U-21
France Espoir
Logo of the French Football Association
Nickname (s) Les Bleuets ("The Bläuchen")
Association Fédération Française de Football
confederacy UEFA
Head coach Sylvain Ripoll
captain Abdou Diallo
Record scorer Florient Maurice (15)
Record player Mickaël Landreau (43)
FIFA code FRA
home
Away
statistics
First international match
Belgium 1-1 France
( Amiens , France ; September 3, 1976)
Biggest win
France 7-0 Yugoslavia
( Reims , France ; November 16, 1985)
Biggest defeat
England 6-1 France
( Sheffield , England ; February 28, 1984)
Successes in tournaments
European Championship
Participation in the finals 9 ( first : 1982 )
Best results European Champion 1988 (winner)
(As of July 2019)

The French U-21 national football team is a selection team of French football players . It is subject to the Fédération Française de Football (FFF) and represents it at the U-21 level , in friendly matches against the national teams of other national associations, but also at the European Championship of the continental association UEFA . Players who have not yet reached the age of 21 and who are French citizens are eligible to play. In tournaments, the age at the first qualifying game is decisive. The team, made up of a maximum of 20-year-olds, also regularly takes part in the U-20 World Championships as the French U-20 national football team. In French, teams of this age group are called Espoirs ("bearers of hope").

history

The French U-21 was founded in 1976. The reason for this was the reorganization and regulation of UEFA this year, which lowered the age limit from 23 to 21. Before that, there had been a U-23 since 1972, which is the origins of today's U-21 selection.

The first international match was played in the same year. The U-21 team from Belgium were guests and were drawn 1: 1.

In the first two years, the French could not qualify for the European Championship. After only third and last place in the qualifying round was achieved in 1978, they achieved second place two years later. But that shouldn't be enough for participation either. In 1982 the time had come. However, they failed in the quarter-finals after a 0-0 first leg with a 2-4 defeat in the second leg against the then defending champion from the Soviet Union. In the two following tournaments they were eliminated in the quarterfinals against England (first leg: 1: 6; second leg: 0: 1) and then against Spain (first leg: 1: 3; second leg: 1: 3). After three years of uninterrupted access to the quarter-finals, 1988 was their greatest success to date. In the group stage, they were able to move into first place with one point ahead of the GDR . In the quarter-finals, Italy was the winner of the last tournament. You could send him home with an overall win of 4: 3. After the English were bid farewell to the competition in the semifinals with an overall win of 6: 4 (first leg: 4: 2; second leg: 2: 2), they were able to prevail against the Greek selection in the final . After the first game ended in a 0-0 draw, the second was won 3-0. In the ranks of the Bleuets were later world stars such as Éric Cantona (received a one-year ban during the tournament), Laurent Blanc and Franck Sauzée . It was Sauzée who set the French for victory with his brace in the final. With the 3-0 winning goal by Franck Silvestre , the success was perfect.

The next two tournaments should be disappointing. Neither for the EM 1990 nor for the EM 1992 one could qualify. In 1994, with France as host, the finals were held in a single country for the first time. The French were able to reach the semi-finals, where they were defeated by the eventual titleholder Italy 3: 5 on penalties (0: 0). In the game for third place, the team failed 2-1 against Spain . At the European Championships in Spain in 1996 they failed again in the semi-finals against Italy. However, a 1-0 win against Scotland secured the bronze medal. The European Championships in 1998 and 2000 took place without French participation, as the qualification was not made. It wasn't until 2002 that they became aware again, after reaching the final for the second time since 1988. There you had to admit defeat with 3: 1 after penalties (0: 0). The coach of the blue-white-reds at that time was the future national coach of France Raymond Domenech . As with the title win in 1988, the team could not qualify for the following European championship and thus disappointed its fans. In Portugal 2006 , the semi-finalist was played in a previous group stage. Here you could prevail against the hosts Portugal as well as Germany and Serbia and Montenegro as group winners. The Dutch selection waited in the semifinals . After a 0: 2 at halftime, the tide could be turned to a 2: 2 by the final whistle. In extra time, however, they failed 3-2 against the upcoming European champions.

Current developments

For the European Championship 2007, the U-21 of France could not qualify.

From August 2008 Erick Mombaerts took care of the Espoirs . Before that he had already trained the French U-18s. He thus inherited from René Girard . Mombaerts was supposed to lead the juniors to Sweden for the 2009 European Championships . France was drawn into Group 10 with Wales , Romania , Bosnia-Herzegovina and Malta . At the beginning of this qualification, the French saw Romania as their biggest competitor for victory in this group. Both games against the Eastern Europeans ended in a draw. With one defeat and one win against Wales, it was suddenly the island footballers who could still calculate their chances of winning the group. On the final day of the match, France beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0, but Wales got the upper hand against Romania 3-0, relegating France to second place. As one of the runners- up in the group, the Bleuets then moved into the play-offs. There they met the German U-21 team on October 11th and 15th. In the first game in Germany the game ended 1-1, so the French were in a good starting position before the second leg. In the second comparison, it was 0-0 until stoppage time of the regular 90 minutes, only then a goal from German Benedikt Höwedes sealed the elimination of the European champions from 1988.

Participation in U-21 European Championships

1978 not qualified
1980 not qualified
1982 Quarter finals
1984 Quarter finals
1986 Quarter finals
1988 winner
1990 not qualified
1992 not qualified
1994 in France 4th Place
1996 in Spain 3rd place
1998 in Romania not qualified
2000 in Slovakia not qualified
2002 in Switzerland final
2004 in Germany not qualified
2006 in Portugal Semifinals
2007 in the Netherlands not qualified
2009 in Sweden not qualified
2011 in Denmark not qualified
2013 in Israel not qualified
2015 in the Czech Republic not qualified
2017 in Poland not qualified
2019 in Italy a. San Marino Semifinals

Note : Between 1978 and 1992, the final round of a U-21 European Championship was not played in one country, but instead was played back and forth in the respective participating nations.

Participation in U-20 world championships

The Bleuets first took part in the U-20 world championship tournaments , initially known as the Junior World Cup, in 1977. But it wasn't until 2011 that they reached the semi-finals, and in 2013 in Turkey they won their first world title in this age group.

Coach Pierre Mankowski's French World Cup squad consisted of the following players (finalists in bold):
Goal: Alphonse Aréola ( Paris Saint-Germain ), Paul Charruau ( Valenciennes FC ), Maxime Dupé ( Nantes FC )
Defense: Lucas Digne ( OSC Lille ), Dimitri Foulquier ( Stade Rennes ), Christopher Jullien ( AJ Auxerre ), Pierre-Yves Polomat ( AS Saint-Étienne ), Youssouf Sabaly (Paris SG), Mouhamadou-Naby Sarr ( Olympique Lyon ), Samuel Umtiti (Olympique Lyon ), Kurt Zouma (AS Saint-Étienne)
Midfield: Geoffrey Kondogbia ( FC Sevilla ), Mario Lemina ( FC Lorient ), Axel Ngando (Stade Rennes), Paul Pogba ( Juventus Turin ), Jordan Veretout (FC Nantes)
Attack: Jean- Christophe Bahebeck ( ES Troyes AC ), Alexy Bosetti ( OGC Nice ), Yaya Sanogo (AJ Auxerre), Florian Thauvin ( SC Bastia ), Thibaut Vion ( FC Porto )

Paul Pogba was also awarded the "Golden Ball" as the best player of the tournament.

Tournament of Toulon

The Tournament of Toulon is, after the European Championships, the most important of the U-21 national teams. It has been held annually in Toulon , France , since 1974 . The host is France's U-21s.

So far, the French have made it to the finals for the coveted cup 24 times. The title has been won eleven times. Your first participation in the final was in 1975. At that time you had to draw the short straw against the Argentine selection. The following year they lost the final against Bulgaria. It wasn't until 1977 that the title stayed in Toulon. With Gérard Soler they had the best player and goalscorer of the tournament in their own ranks. Seven years and two final defeats passed before the second success could be celebrated (1984). This time the title was defended. Jean-Pierre Papin contributed five goals to the title win and thus led the scorers list. With Jean-Claude Nadon , another Frenchman was honored as the best goalkeeper of the tournament. France's junior team made it to the final for the third year in a row, but failed to win the title this time. Only between 1987 and 1988 did they win three times in a row. In the 1990s, the blue-white-reds were six times in the final for the title. The competition could only be won in 1997. During this time, the stars of some French footballers rose. Three players and a goalkeeper from the team were honored as the best of the tournament during this period (1993: Florian Maurice , 1994: Grégory Coupet (goalkeeper) 1995: Vikash Dhorasoo , 1997: Thierry Henry ). Between 2004 and 2007, the team dominated the tournament and won every event during this period. After seven years without a title, the team won the tournament for the eleventh time in 2015.

Trainer

Former players

selection

See also

Web links

Remarks

  1. French World Cup line-up according to the association's website