Football World Cup 1978 / France
This article is about the French national football team at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina .
qualification
France was able to qualify for a World Cup tournament for the first time since the 1966 World Cup. However, the qualification was bumpy and was only decided on the last day of the game. Before the last game, Bulgaria led the table of European group 5, which would have been enough to draw against France. However, France won the game 3-1 and was able to book the trip to Argentina.
| rank | country | Gates | Points |
| 1 |
 France
|
7: 4 | 5: 3 |
| 2 |
.svg){kind=small} Bulgaria |
5: 6 | 4: 4 |
| 3 |
 Ireland |
2: 4 | 3: 5 |
| Bulgaria | - | France | 2: 2 (1: 2) |
| France | - | Ireland | 2: 0 (0: 0) |
| Ireland | - | France | 1: 0 (1: 0) |
| France | - | Bulgaria | 3: 1 (1: 0) |
France's seven qualifying goals were scored by Michel Platini (3 goals) and Bernard Lacombe, Dominique Bathenay, Dominique Rocheteau and Christian Dalger (one each).
Squad
| Number / name | society | Date of birth | Games | Gates | red | yellow | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| goalkeeper | |||||||
| 1 | Dominique Baratelli | OGC Nice | December 16, 1947 | 1 | - | - | - |
| 21st | Jean-Paul Bertrand-Demanes | FC Nantes | 05/13/1952 | 2 | - | - | - |
| 22nd | Dominique Dropsy | Racing Strasbourg | December 09, 1951 | 1 | - | - | - |
| Defender | |||||||
| 2 | Patrick Battiston | FC Metz | 03/12/1957 | 1 | - | - | - |
| 3 | Maxime Bossis | FC Nantes | 06/25/1955 | 2 | - | - | - |
| 5 | François Bracci | Olympique Marseille | 10/31/1951 | 1 | - | - | - |
| 4th | Gérard Janvion | AS Saint-Etienne | 08/21/1953 | 2 | - | - | - |
| 6th | Christian Lopez | AS Saint-Etienne | 03/15/1953 | 2 | 1 | - | - |
| 7th | Patrice Rio | FC Nantes | 08/15/1948 | 1 | - | - | - |
| 8th | Marius Trésor | Olympique Marseille | January 15, 1950 | 3 | - | - | - |
| midfield player | |||||||
| 9 | Dominique Bathenay | Paris Saint-Germain | 02/13/1954 | 2 | - | - | - |
| 10 | Jean-Marc Guillou | OGC Nice | December 20, 1945 | 1 | - | - | - |
| 11 | Henri Michel | FC Nantes | 10/28/1947 | 2 | - | - | 1 |
| 12 | Claude Papi | SEC Bastia | 04/16/1949 | 1 | - | - | - |
| 13 | Jean Petit | AS Monaco | 09/25/1949 | 1 | - | - | - |
| 15th | Michel Platini | AS Nancy | 06/21/1955 | 3 | 1 | - | 1 |
| striker | |||||||
| 14th | Marc Berdoll | Olympique Marseille | 04/06/1953 | 2 | 1 | - | - |
| 16 | Christian Dalger | AS Monaco | December 18, 1949 | 1 | - | - | - |
| 17th | Bernard Lacombe | Olympique Lyon | 08/15/1952 | 2 | 1 | - | - |
| 18th | Dominique Rocheteau | AS Saint-Etienne | 01/14/1955 | 2 | 1 | - | - |
| 20th | Olivier Rouyer | AS Nancy | December 01, 1955 | 2 | - | - | - |
| 19th | Didier Six | RC Lens | 08/21/1954 | 3 | - | - | 1 |
| Trainer | |||||||
| Michel Hidalgo | March 22, 1933 | ||||||
French games at the 1978 World Cup
- France 1-2 Italy - Goals: 1-0 Lacombe (1st min.), 1-1 Rossi (29th min.), 1-2 Zaccarelli (52nd min.)
- France 1-2 Argentina - Goals: 0-1 Passarella (45th min.), 1-1 Platini (60th min.), 1-2 Luque (72nd min.)
- France 3-1 Hungary - goals: 1-0 Lopez (22nd min.), 2-0 Berdoll (37th min.), 2-1 Zombori (41st min.). 3: 1 Rocheteau (42nd min.)
France was able to convince in the first two games, but lost both times unlucky, so that after the second game it was already clear that France would not survive the preliminary round. The game against Hungary only had cosmetic value and coach Hidalgo mainly used players who had not yet played in this tournament.
