France are hoping to join the annuls of football history on Sunday night when they aim to become just the third men’s team to successfully retain the World Cup.
Les Bleus triumphed in 2018 and, should they beat Argentina in the 2022 final, would join Brazil (1958 and 1962) and Italy (1934 and 1938) in winning back to back World Cup titles.
Others have gone close but ultimately failed, like Argentina in 1990 and Brazil in 1998.
Last time around in 2018, France were coming off the back of a runner-up finish at Euro 2016 on home soil and had been building under head coach Didier Deschamps since 2012.
En route to a first global title since 1998, Les Bleus topped a potentially tricky group ahead of Denmark, Peru and Australia with seven points from their three games – they were drawn with two of these three again in 2022.
The first knockout round then produced a seven-goal thriller against Argentina as Kylian Mbappe exploded onto the biggest stage of all, before follow up victories over Uruguay and Belgium.
France were then faced by World Cup final first-timers Croatia in the showpiece event, but made relatively light work of it overall to win 4-2 and lift the trophy.
Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Tottenham), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Alphonse Areola (PSG)
Defenders: Benjamin Pavard (Stuttgart), Presnel Kimpembe (PSG), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid), Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona), Adil Rami (Marseille), Djibril Sidibe (Monaco), Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid), Benjamin Mendy (Manchester City)
Midfielders: Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Corentin Tolisso (Bayern Munich), N’Golo Kante (Chelsea), Blaise Matuidi (Juventus), Steven Nzonzi (Sevilla)
Forwards: Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Thomas Lemar (Monaco), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Kylian Mbappe (PSG), Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona), Nabil Fekir (Lyon), Florian Thauvin (Marseille)
Manager: Didier Deschamps
Given that only just under four and a half years have passed since the 2018 tournament, a considerable number of repeat faces are still with France in 2022 – including Deschamps.
There of course have been significant changes too, with Deschamps losing Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante and Presnel Kimpembe to injury – all three would likely have been called up if fit. The emergence of younger new stars like Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni has also seen older former players like Blaise Matuidi and Steven Nzonzi replaced since 2018.
But 10 survivors from 2018 could join an exclusive list of players with two World Cup…
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