The history of the France national football team dates back to 1904. The national team, also referred to as Les Bleus, represents the nation of France in international football. It is fielded by the French Football Federation and competes as a member of UEFA.
France was one of the four European teams that participated at the inaugural World Cup in 1930 and was one of eight national teams to have won the competition, which they did in 1998 when they hosted the cup. They defeated Brazil 3–0 in the final. France has won two World Cups, one in 1998, another in 2018. France has also won two UEFA European Football Championships, first in 1984, led by Ballon d'Or winner Michel Platini, and then in 2000, led by FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane. Following France's 2001 Confederations Cup victory, they became, along with Germany, Brazil and Argentina, the only national teams to win the FIFA World Cup, the FIFA Confederations Cup, and the Olympic Tournament.
Early years
A France national team played in the 1900 Olympics under the name of USFSA XI, or Club Français. They finished second. The team was officially created in 1904 around the same time of FIFA's foundation on 21 May 1904. Before FIFA's creation, France contested international matches under the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA), the now-defunct French sports union. In preparation for the 1900 Summer Olympics held in Paris, the USFSA formed a national team composed of players from French clubs. The USFSA team eventually earned the silver medal following an 0–4 defeat in the gold medal match to Upton Park F.C., who were representing Great Britain. Between the years 1900 and 1904, under USFSA authority, France contested five matches, one against Belgium, a 6–2 victory and four against England, all defeats.
France's first ever game was held on 1 May 1904 in a match against Belgium that ended in a 3–3 draw. The match was played at the Stade du Vivier d'Oie in Uccle (Brussels) and the three French goals came from Louis Mesnier, Marius Royet, and Gaston Cyprès. On 12 February 1905, France contested their first home match against Switzerland, played at the Parc des Princes in front of 500 supporters. France won the match 1–0 with the only goal coming from Cyprès. Later that year, France returned to Brussels to face Belgium and lost 0–7. In the return match, played a year later on 22 April 1906 in Saint-Cloud, France again lost 0–5 to the Belgians. On 11 November, France were defeated 0–15 by England before defeating Belgium 2–1.
On 7 June 1908, a FIFA delegation ruled that the USFSA still had control of the France national team for Olympic competition. Due to this, France had to send two teams, called France A and B, to the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, a rare occurrence. The main difference between the teams, other than the players, were that France A, who were controlled by FIFA, matches would be recorded as official matches and France B, who were controlled by the USFSA, matches would not. The teams arrived in the city on the same day as the matches, following an extensive journey by boat and train from France. France B were eliminated in the quarter-finals following an 0–9 defeat by Denmark, while France A went out in the semi-finals to the same team following a 1–17 crushing, in which Sophus Nielsen scored a record ten goals. Following the Olympics, on 9 May 1908, the French Interfederal Committee (CFI), a rival organisation to the USFSA, ruled that FIFA would now be responsible for the club's appearances in forthcoming Olympic Games and not the USFSA. As a founding member of the International Olympic Committee (ICO), the USFSA disagreed with the ruling and, despite having three years to reach an agreement, the two organisations failed to, which led to France not sending a football team to the 1912 Summer Olympics. Due to numerous disagreements with FIFA and the IOC, the USFSA eventually became disorganised and in 1913, became semi-affiliated with the CFI. In 1919, the CFI transformed themselves into the Fédération Française de Football or French Football Federation.