France women's national football team

National football team women
Name = France
Badge = Le nouveau logo FFF.png Nickname = Les Bleues ("The Blues")
Association = French Football Federation
("Fédération Française
de Football")
Coach = Bruno Bini
Most caps = Corinne Diacre - 121
Top scorer = Marinette Pichon - 80
FIFA Rank = 7

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First game = England 0 - 2 France (Manchester, England; 1920)
Largest win = ?
Largest loss = ?

World cup apps = 4
World cup first = 1971
World cup best = 1st round, 2003

Olympic apps = ?
Olympic first = ?
Olympic best = ?

Regional name = UEFA Women's Championship
Regional cup apps = 9
Regional cup first = 1984
Regional cup best = quarter finalThe French women's national football team, or "the Blues", constists of the best female players in France and is run by the Fédération française de football. In 2004, the team qualified for the 2005 UEFA Women's Championship

History of "the Blues"

In 1919 a women's football championship was established in France. On April 29 1920, France played its first international match against an English team, Dick, Kerr's Ladies. The game, held in Preston, attracted more than 25,000 spectators. "The Blues" lost the match 2-0. Further games were played against Dick, Kerr Ladies from Preston in England. The first game held in France was at the Pershing stadium in Paris, and ended in a 1-1 tie against Dick, Kerr Ladies of England.

In May 1921, France played in another English tournament. They won their first match 5-1, but then suffered 3 defeats. In October 1921, the English team came to France and played games in Paris and Le Havre, both matches ending in stalemate.

Despite the prohibition of women's football by The Football Association, games continued in England. A victory for the French in Plymouth was followed by no-score draws in Exeter and Falmouth.

By 1932, the female game had been called to an end. The last match by the "France de la Fédération des Sociétés Féminines Sportives de France" team was another scoreless draw against the Belgian women's team on April 3 1932.

Rebellion years (1968-1985)

Throughout the late 1960s in France, particularly in Reims, players worked hard to promote awareness and acceptance of women's football. A year before getting official sanction, "the Blues" took park in a clandestine European cup against England, Denmark and Italy, won by the Italians. Women's football was officially reinstated in 1970, and players organized an unofficial World Cup, won by Denmark. "The Blues" did not participate in that cup, but took part in the 1971 World Cup held in Mexico. The ladies continued the pirate games, which just made it into the margins of FIFA's records, until FIFA began overseeing the competition in 1991. Since 1982, UEFA has governed the European games.

Stade of Reims was the best team around from the 1960s to the early 1980s, and thus constituted much of the French national squad. For the non-official World Cup in 1978 in Taiwan, the team included the entire Reims squad. The shared the title with the Finnish team, who never actually played the final.

Crisis years (1985-1998)

After the hopes born in the rebellion years and the good level reached by the best French players, one would expect to see the French team doing well in the competitions, but this was not the case. Women's football was not regarded highly by the football federation, which did not place much store in developing it. President Fournet-Fayard was particularly complicit in this oversight. In this period "the Blues" were notable only for their absence in major international tournaments.

Clairefontaine years (1998-2005)

Under the wing of Aimé Jacquet, top level female football was overseen by Clairefontaine. Frances "A Team" and younger women alike were afforded the same benefits from the facilities offered by Clairefontaine as the men. Under the tutelage of Elisabeth Loisel, the first results appeared encouraging. They got to the 2003 World Cup after defeating England in a play-off game in London and again in Geoffroy-Guichard stadium. The second match attracted more than 23,000 spectators and was broadcast by Canal Plus. Loisel's squad qualified for the 2005 European Championships, where they were knocked out in the group stage.

Honours

= Performance in the World Cup =

*1971 : 6th (non-official competition)
*1978 : Winners (non-official competition)
*1988 : 4th (non-official competition)
*1991 : Did not qualify
*1995 : Did not qualify
*1999 : Did not qualify
*2003 : 1st round
*2007 : Did not qualify

=Performance in European Championship=

*1969 : 4th (non-official competition)
*1979 : 1st round (non-official competition)
*1984 : 1st round
*1987 : 1st round
*1989 : quarter final
*1991 : 1st round
*1993 : 1st round
*1995 : 1st round
*1997 : quarter final
*2001 : quarter final
*2005 : Group stage

Notable players (past and present)

*Sonia Bompastor
*Corinne Diacre
*Hoda Lattaf
*Élisabeth Loisel
*Céline Marty
*Stéphanie Mugneret-Béghé
*Marinette Pichon
*Élodie Woock

Coaches

*1970–1978 : Pierre Geoffroy
*1978–1987 : Francis Coché
*1987–1997 : Aimé Mignot
*1997–2007 : Élisabeth Loisel
*2007- : Bruno Bini

FIFA ranking

*July 2003 : 9
*August 2003 : 9
*October 2003 : 9
*December 2003 : 9
*March 2004 : 9
*June 2004 : 7
*July 2004 : 7
*December 2004 : 9
*March 2005 : 5
*June 2005 : 5
*September 2005 : 5
*December 2005 : 7
*March 2006 : 5
*May 2006 : 6
*September 2006 : 6
*December 2006 : 7

Source: [http://www.fifa.com/en/womens/statistics/index/0,1624,All-16,00.html FIFA]

External links

* [http://www.fff.fr/femininesa/actu/index.shtml Official FFF site (French)]