Allez les Bleus! It doesn't take much imagination to think back and conjure up images of the famous blue, white and red combination adorning the generations of elite French footballers who've lit up the game.
World Cup 2026 is nearly here and France have unfinished business. Four years ago, Didier Deschamps' side were beaten on penalties by Argentina in the World Cup final, missing the chance to add a third global title to their honours list.
It wouldn't be a surprise if they pulled it off this time. France have always been blessed with mercurial footballers and water carriers alike and the current cohort is no different. What unites them is that undeterminable spirit that has taken them from the banlieues to beyond, but who's the greatest of all>
10. N'Golo Kante
Originally likened to fellow France destroyer Claude Makelele, N'Golo Kante has risen from Ligue 2 transcended comparisons to win everything in the game and become established as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation.
His performances during title-winning campaigns at Leicester City and Chelsea were impressive enough before a stunning Champions League final display against Manchester City in 2022 completed the set.
Kante has always been peerless for Deschamps in the national set-up, famously tearing through the work rate of two midfielders on the international stage and helping France to reach three major tournament finals and win the World Cup in 2018.
9. Just Fontaine
Just Fontaine scored 13 goals at a single World Cup. France were knocked out in the semi-finals in 1958 but the Morocco-born Reims striker had claimed a piece of history that stands tall to this day and probably will forever.
Not only is his 1958 tally a record for a World Cup, obviously, but it was achieved in six matches and makes Fontaine the joint-fourth highest all-time World Cup goalscorer with Lionel Messi.
France finished third after a Pele hat-trick put paid to their efforts and Fontaine retired through injury at the age of 28. In all, Fontaine scored a remarkable 30 goals in 21 senior appearances for his country.
8. Didier Deschamps
Long before he led his nation to the Coupe de Monde as a manager, Didier Deschamps was a phenomenal leader and the perfect image of a captain.
He captained France to their first World Cup triumph in 1998. Nicknamed 'The Water Carrier', Deschamps was a brilliant organiser and a fierce competitor, not to mention a classy player with the ball at his feet.
Deschamps was also outstanding in the club game. He became the youngest captain to win the Champions League while at Marseille and then won it again with Juventus.
7. Marcel Desailly
Like Deschamps, Marcel Desailly won the Champions League both with Marseille and as a Serie A player.
Desailly was an incredible footballer. An awesome athlete and technically gifted, he was as adept as a tough-tackling centre-back as he was in a defensive midfield role for Italian giants AC Milan. The Rossoneri had world class central defenders. In Desailly, they found a world class pivot too.
His leadership was the cherry on top of a game that boasted football intelligence, progressive passing, attacking instincts and physical strength. By most definitions, Desailly was complete. Wins in the World Cup in 1998 and European Championship in 2000 made sure of it.
6. Lilian Thuram
Lilian Thuram is one of the most beloved footballers of an iconic generation in France. Sons Marcus and Khephren, both now French internationals, are making their way in the sport and there couldn't be many better bleu-prints.
Thuram was a peerless defender throughout an excellent career, elegant and well as combative and aggressive out of possession. He played at right-back at the successful home World Cup in 1998 and in the middle of the defence that reached the final eight years later.
He reigned supreme at club level too. Thuram was an integral player in Parma's legendary team of the late 1990s before moving to Juventus and then Barcelona. He might have won just two league titles, but Thuram's reputation and international medals should be enough for anyone.
5. Eric Cantona
At the European Championship in 2004 and World Cup 2006 World Cup, Eric Cantona went on record as supporting England – a reflection perhaps of his struggles in international football. King Eric was dropped following the Crystal Palace kung-fu kick, never regaining his place when Zinedine Zidane took it.
His place in the pantheon of French football icons has suffered as a result but there's no denying the brilliance and genius of the former Manchester United talisman. He remains a cultural icon to this day.
Cantona was a beguiling footballer of immense power, vision and big-game moments; let's not forget just how much of a shock it was when France left him at home for the European Championship in 1996.
Cantona might not have had a fair crack of the whip for France but he's still one of the all-time greats in terms of players produced by the nation.
4. Patrick Vieira
The headline of the Daily Mirror declared that Arsenal had won the World Cup, the day after France had beaten Brazil 3-0 on home soil in the 1998 final, thanks to a goal from Emmanuel Petit and an all-action midfield display from Patrick Vieira. The Arsenal press room still has a clipping framed.
Vieira at his best might have been the most complete midfielder there's ever been. He'd win every loose ball in the middle of the pitch, and he could drive forward with pace and power. He'd fight an opponent bare-knuckled if needed but could pass to the highest standards too.
The French midfielder played box-to-box and touchline-to-touchline. France and Arsenal looked like they had an extra player and the real ones they did have were always made better for having Vieira alongside them.
You didn't mess about with Vieira either. The midfielder had a deservedly fierce reputation to rival his great Manchester United rival and counterpart Roy Keane; and while that spilled over into red cards on occasion, it mostly meant that opponents feared his very presence.
Vieira was a cheat code of a footballer for club and country, winning three titles with the Gunners and being the beating heart for his nation for the best part of a decade. He would get into any midfield in French footballing history: and he would run it.
3. Michel Platini
Le Roi – The King – was quick, elegant and an immaculate passer of the ball. However you look at it, Michel Platini was one of the greatest football players of all time. Yes, even now.
Platini was a prolific goalscorer, earning Capocannoniere honours in Italy when it wasn't easy to score in Serie A, and could slalom through opposition players as if they were traffic cones.
There was a time when Platini was beloved. He was the brain at Saint-Etienne before winning the European Championship with a formidable France team in 1984 and leading Juventus to European Cup glory in 1985. He capped each with a Ballon d'Or for good measure.
Magical and majestic, Platini the player was surely the most talented French player to have never won the World Cup.
2. Thierry Henry
The final of World Cup 1998 still stings for Thierry Henry, who was due to come on as a substitute before Desailly's untimely red card. Just 20 when the tournament landed in his home country, the Monaco winger ended up impressing for his nation in 1998 – he top-scored for Les Bleus – but football had seen nothing yet.
Henry became a colossus. Having been played on the wing at Juventus, Henry's career went into overdrive after he moved to England and top-scored in four Premier League seasons at Arsenal.
Under Arsene Wenger, Henry put the Gunners on his back for an unbeaten title and set a still-to-be-beaten assists record. Henry moved back to the left wing at Barcelona, won a treble, and set the all-time scoring record for his nation with 51 goals.
But even these career highlights don't tell of Henry's genius. He was more powerful than any striker on the planet yet capable of grace like few others. He was lightning quick yet creative, and would drift aimlessly yet always be where he was needed.
There's a reason why almost every defender who played against him rates him as their greatest foe. He was ferociously prolific, hugely entertaining, and an iconic face who transcends football.
1. Zinedine Zidane
FourFourTwo's Euro 96 preview edition bore the words: ‘Who the hell is Zinedine Zidane?’
We about to find out, along with the rest of the world.
Zidane's phenomenal performances for Juventus on the way the Champions League finals in 1997 and 1998 brought him to global attention but it was at the Stade de France that he truly announced himself on the big stage.
He scored twice in the World Cup final, became football's most expensive player, and led France to a second consecutive international trophy at the European Championship in 2000. He inspired Real Madrid to a 2002 Champions League, courtesy of that goal.
Nobody captured the imagine quite like Zidane. He was effortless and aggressive. He had the softest touch and the hardest shot, and he was capable of dribbling and passing as well as anyone in the history of the sport.
He produced one final masterclass, dominating Brazil all by himself at World Cup 2006 and scoring a Panenka penalty early in the final. True to his legend, he went out with a bang. Zidane was sent off for headbutting Marco Materazzi and trudged off past the trophy, never to be seen on the pitch in a pair of Predators again.
The ultimate man for the big match, Zidane has perhaps given more joy to French football than anyone else. Few will ever match his legacy, in France or anyone else.
