France women's national football team

In 1919, a women's football championship was established in France by the Fédération des Sociétés Féminines Sportives de France (FSFSF). On 29 April 1920, a team led by French women's football pioneer Alice Milliat traveled to England and played its first international match against English team Dick, Kerr's Ladies. The match, held in Preston, attracted more than 25,000 spectators. France won the match 2–0 and ended its tour with two wins, one draw, and one defeat. The following year, a return match in France at the Stade Pershing in Vincennes, a suburb of Paris, took place in front of over 12,000 spectators. The match ended in a 1–1 draw. In May 1921, France returned to England for friendlies. The team won its first match 5–1, then suffered three consecutive defeats. In October 1921, the English team returned to France contesting matches in Paris and Le Havre with both matches ending in stalemates. Despite women's football in England being prohibited by The Football Association in December 1921, France continued to go there on tour for matches. A victory for the French in Plymouth was followed by 0–0 draws in Exeter and Falmouth. By 1932, the female game had been called to an end and the women's league formed in 1919 by the FSFSF was discontinued. The last match by the FSFSF international team was another scoreless draw against Belgium on 3 April 1932.

Throughout the late 1960s in France, particularly in Reims, local players worked hard to promote awareness and the acceptance of women's football. A year before getting officially sanctioned, France took part in a makeshift European Cup against England, Denmark, and Italy. The tournament was won by the Italians. The Federal Council of the French Football Federation officially reinstated women's football in 1970 and France played its first official international match on 17 April 1971 against the Netherlands in Hazebrouck.[4] That same year, France took part in the unofficial 1971 Women's 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.

In 1975, the women's football league was officially reinstated, this time with backing from the French Football Federation, the governing body of football in France. Stade Reims was the best team in the country throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, 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 team shared the title with Finland, who never actually played the final. Due to receiving minimal support from the French Football Federation, who ultimately looked at women's football as not being highly regarded, France struggled in international competition failing to advance past the first round of qualification in both the 1984 and 1987 UEFA Women's Championship. Francis Coché, who managed the team during these failures, was later replaced by Aimé Mignot. Mignot helped the team finally get past the first round, however, in the quarterfinals, they lost to Italy, which meant they wouldn't appear at the 1989 UEFA Women's Championship. Despite the initial positives, Mignot failed to continue his success with France failing to qualify for both the 1991 and 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup and losing in the first round of qualification in three straight UEFA Women's Championships. After almost a decade in charge, Mignot was replaced by former women's international Élisabeth Loisel.

With Loisel in charge, the FFF, along with then France national football team manager Aimé Jacquet, moved the women's national team to Clairefontaine, which had quickly become a high-level training facility for male football players. As a result of the move, younger women were afforded the same benefits from the facilities offered by Clairefontaine as the men. The success of female training led to the formation of the Centre National de Formation et d'Entraînement de Clairefontaine, which is now referred to as the female section of the Clairefontaine academy. Under the tutelage of Loisel, the first results appeared encouraging. They reached their first-ever Women's World Cup qualifying for the 2003 edition after defeating England over two legs in a play-off game in London and again at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. The match in Saint-Étienne attracted more than 23,000 spectators and was broadcast by the popular French broadcasting company Canal Plus. Loisel's squad later qualified for the 2005 European Championship, where they were knocked out in the group stage. She was eventually sacked after failing to qualify for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Loisel was replaced by former football player and now coach Bruno Bini. Bini had been in charge of several France female international youth sides before accepting the role and was tasked with the job of qualifying for UEFA Women's Euro 2009. Due to the success of the Clairefontaine project and the surprising emergence of the French women's first division, Division 1 Féminine, Bini inherited a team full of emerging, young, and influential talent, which included the likes of Camille Abily, Sonia Bompastor, Louisa Necib, Élise Bussaglia, Laura Georges, and Corine Franco. Bini was also provided with leadership from captain Sandrine Soubeyrand. Early results under Bini were extremely positive with France finishing first in their Euro qualifying group only conceded two goals. France also performed well in friendly tournaments, such as the Nordic Cup and Cyprus Cup. At UEFA Women's Euro 2009, France were inserted into the group of death, which consisted of themselves, world powerhouse Germany, no. 7 ranked Norway, and an underrated Iceland. France finished the group with 4 points, alongside Norway, with Germany leading the group. As a result of the competition's rules, all three nations qualified for the quarterfinals. In the knockout rounds, France suffered defeat to the Netherlands losing 5–4 on penalties after no goals were scored in regular time and extra time.[5]

Corinne Diacre is the current manager of France's women's national team and was appointed in August 2017.[6] She has led the French national team to success as champions in the SheBelieves Cup in 2017 and runner-ups in 2018.

The French team at the 2011 Women's World Cup prior to the 2–4 first round loss to Germany on 5 July 2011.

Bini's next task was to qualify for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup after the disappointment of four years earlier. In the team's qualifying group, France finished the campaign scoring 50 goals and conceded none over the course of ten matches (all wins). On 16 September 2010, France qualified for the World Cup following the team's 3–2 aggregate victory over Italy.

At the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany, France qualified to the knockout stage by finishing in second place in its group after wins over Nigeria and Canada, and a loss to the host team. The team went on to beat England on penalty kicks in the quarterfinals, but lost to the United States in the semi-finals. France finished the competition in fourth place and earned qualification to the Olympic football tournament at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London; it was the nation's first appearance in the competition. Striker Marie-Laure Delie was the only multiple goal scorer for France in the tournament, while defenders Sonia Bompastor and Laura Georges as well as midfielder Louisa Necib were selected to the All-Star Team.

France has entered one of the most successful eras in the country's women's football history. In the UEFA Women's Euro 2013 held in Sweden, France stood top of the group, beating Spain, England and Russia to earn its ticket to the quarter-finals. However, Bergeroo's side lost to Denmark in a penalty shootout, thus failing to advance to the semi-finals.

In the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup held in Canada, France was listed to Pot 1, and was a favorite to become champions. France was named to Group F, alongside England, Mexico and Colombia. In the opening match against England, a goal from Eugénie Le Sommer gave France a 1–0 victory. However, France was shocked by Colombia in a 2–0 loss, making Colombia only the second Latin American team to win a Women's World Cup match. Therefore, France's third and final group stage match against Mexico was a must-win. France went on to beat Mexico 5–0 to qualify to the knockout round as top of the group.

In the knockout round, France eased past South Korea in a 3–0 win in Montreal to remain at the same location awaiting the quarter-final match against Germany. In the quarter-final match against Germany, despite dominating the majority of the match, France were unable to capitalize on their chances, which ultimately cost them the game. France were finally able to score in the 64th minute through Louisa Nécib, but failed to keep the lead as Célia Šašić scored on an 83rd-minute penalty kick. The score was 1–1 after 120 minutes, resulting in the match to be decided in a penalty shootout, where France's 5th penalty taken by Claire Lavogez was denied by Nadine Angerer, in which France were eliminated from the tournament losing 4–5 on penalty kicks.

France won all matches at the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying Group 3. The home matches had sizable crowds, with 7,761 spectators attending the Romania match at the MMArena in Le Mans, 15,028 spectators at the Ukraine match at the Stade du Hainaut in Valenciennes, 24,835 spectators at the Greece match at Roazhon Park in Rennes, and 7,521 spectators at the Albania at Stade Jean-Bouin in Paris. The team scored a win and two draws at the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 Group C, and was defeated by England in quarter-finals.

In March 2015, France was selected to host the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup of the tournament. Having automatically qualified as hosts, France was considered a favorite to win the tournament, along with the United States. The team opened with three victories against Norway, Nigeria, and South Korea, winning its group with a total of 9 points.[7] In the round of 16, France defeated Brazil by a score of 2-1, but lost to the United States in the quarterfinal with a score of 2–1. This Women's World Cup was particularly notable, as it was used as a platform by many women's teams to campaign for equal pay between men and women.[8]

The following players were named to the squad for the UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifier against  Kazakhstan on 1 December 2020.[10]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Solène Durand	(1994-11-20) 20 November 1994	1	0	Guingamp
16	1GK	Romane Munich	(1994-10-08) 8 October 1994	0	0	Soyaux
21	1GK	Pauline Peyraud-Magnin	(1992-03-17) 17 March 1992	10	0	Atlético Madrid
2	2DF	Ève Périsset	(1994-12-24) 24 December 1994	21	1	Bordeaux
3	2DF	Wendie Renard	(1990-07-20) 20 July 1990	122	25	Lyon
7	2DF	Sakina Karchaoui	(1996-01-26) 26 January 1996	38	0	Lyon
9	2DF	Sandy Baltimore	(2000-02-19) 19 February 2000	1	1	Paris Saint-Germain
19	2DF	Estelle Cascarino	(1997-02-05) 5 February 1997	5	1	Bordeaux
22	2DF	Élisa de Almeida	(1998-01-11) 11 January 1998	7	3	Montpellier
23	2DF	Perle Morroni	(1997-10-15) 15 October 1997	5	1	Paris Saint-Germain
4	3MF	Julie Thibaud	(1998-04-20) 20 April 1998	0	0	Bordeaux
5	3MF	Clara Matéo	(1997-11-28) 28 November 1997	2	1	Paris FC
6	3MF	Amandine Henry	(1989-09-28) 28 September 1989	93	13	Lyon
8	3MF	Grace Geyoro	(1997-07-02) 2 July 1997	35	4	Paris Saint-Germain
14	3MF	Charlotte Bilbault	(1990-06-05) 5 June 1990	31	1	Bordeaux
15	3MF	Kenza Dali	(1991-07-31) 31 July 1991	31	4	West Ham United
17	3MF	Maéva Clemaron	(1992-11-10) 10 November 1992	5	1	Everton
18	3MF	Oriane Jean-François	(2001-08-14) 14 August 2001	1	0	Paris FC
10	4FW	Amel Majri	(1993-01-25) 25 January 1993	61	9	Lyon
11	4FW	Kadidiatou Diani	(1995-04-01) 1 April 1995	60	13	Paris Saint-Germain
12	4FW	Marie-Antoinette Katoto	(1998-11-01) 1 November 1998	15	9	Paris Saint-Germain
13	4FW	Emelyne Laurent	(1998-11-04) 4 November 1998	7	1	Atlético Madrid
20	4FW	Delphine Cascarino	(1997-02-05) 5 February 1997	29	6	Lyon

The following players have been named to the France squad in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Sarah Bouhaddi	(1986-10-17) 17 October 1986	149	0	Lyon	v.  Netherlands, 10 March 2020
DF	Marion Torrent	(1992-04-17) 17 April 1992	35	1	Montpellier	v.  Austria, 27 October 2020
DF	Aïssatou Tounkara	(1995-03-16) 16 March 1995	18	0	Atlético Madrid	v.  Austria, 27 October 2020
DF	Griedge Mbock Bathy	(1995-02-26) 26 February 1995	60	6	Lyon	v.  Netherlands, 10 March 2020
FW	Eugénie Le Sommer	(1989-05-18) 18 May 1989	174	86	Lyon	v.  Austria, 27 October 2020
FW	Viviane Asseyi	(1993-11-20) 20 November 1993	46	9	Bayern Munich	v.  Austria, 27 October 2020
FW	Valérie Gauvin	(1996-06-01) 1 June 1996	33	16	Everton	v.  Austria, 27 October 2020
FW	Melvine Malard	(2000-06-28) 28 June 2000	2	0	Lyon	v.  Austria, 27 October 2020

• Cyprus Cup: Winner 2012, 2014[14]
• SheBelieves Cup: Winner 2017
• Tournoi de France: Winner 2020

Year	Result	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1984	Did not qualify
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997	Group stage	6th	3	1	1	1	4	5
2001	Group stage	7th	3	1	0	2	5	7
2005	Group stage	6th	3	1	1	1	4	5
2009	Quarter-final	8th	4	1	2	1	5	7
2013	Quarter-final	5th	4	3	1	0	8	2
2017	Quarter-final	6th	4	1	2	1	3	3
2022	Qualified
Total	7/13	0 Titles	21	8	7	6	29	29

*Draws include knockout matches decided by penalty shootout.

**Gold background colour indicates that the tournament was won. Red border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil.