France national football team (Les Bleus)

France has played an integral part in many of the major developments in international football over the last century.

French FIFA president Jules Rimet had the vision to instigate the first World Cup tournament in 1930 and it was a French sculptor who created the original trophy.

Henri Delaunay, a contemporary of Rimet and head of the Federation Francaise de Football (the French FA), was ahead of his time in promoting the concept of a European Championship as long ago as the 1920s.

When UEFA was founded in 1954, the idea was revived. Although he had died by the time the first tournament took place in 1960, Delaunay’s influence was recognised in the naming of the trophy.

The leading European club competition also has roots in France. The editor of L’Equipe, Gabriel Hanot, championed the introduction of a European Champions Cup after England’s Wolverhampton Wanderers unofficially declared themselves as Europe’s leading club after a number of friendly victories against top continental opposition.

Of course Michel Platini, arguably France’s greatest-ever player, has been president of UEFA since 2007.

Inspired on the field by Platini, France won the European Championships in 1984 on home soil.

Three-time FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane was the key performer when France became one of eight national teams to win the World Cup in 1998 when it hosted the tournament. Two years later, the team triumphed again in Euro 2000 and became the top team in the FIFA world rankings for the first time.