{"id":591716,"date":"2021-06-08T07:01:12","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T11:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=591716"},"modified":"2021-06-04T18:34:30","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T22:34:30","slug":"france-euro-2020-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/06\/08\/france-euro-2020-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Profile, Squad Selection, Star Players and Key Fixtures &#8211; Everything You Need to Know About France Ahead of Euro 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>France enter the 2020 European Championships as one of the bookies&#8217; favourites having won the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/05\/02\/countries-that-withdrew-fifa-world-cup\/\" target=\"_self\">World Cup<\/a> in Russia back in 2018. Les Bleues have one of the most experienced and talented squads featuring in this year&#8217;s cross-continent tournament.<\/p>\n<p>The team at Last Word on Football has put together a country profile so that you can have the complete rundown ahead of the competition kicking off in June.<\/p>\n<h2>Everything You Need to Know About France Ahead of Euro 2020<\/h2>\n<h3>Who is the French National Team Coach?<\/h3>\n<p>Having captained France to victory at the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, coach Didier Deschamps will be hopeful of capturing a second international double with Les Bleues &#8211; he coached France to World Cup victory three years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Deschamps, 52, has managed the French national team since July 8, 2012. Since then, the former Marseille and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/05\/11\/gianluigi-buffon-to-leave-juventus-this-summer\/\" target=\"_self\">Juventus<\/a> boss has led France in 111 matches, with a win percentage of 65.7%.<\/p>\n<p>The former French international captain, a defensive midfielder in his prime, was well known for breaking down his opponents&#8217; movements, starting offensive plays, and excellent positional sense.<\/p>\n<h3>Who Has Been Selected in the France Squad For Euro 2020?<\/h3>\n<p>France enters Euro 2020 with a wealth of talent and experience in every position. Across all eleven positions, coach Deschamps has at least two capable candidates to compete on the pitch.<\/p>\n<p>Whether it be Antoine Greizmann, whose fortune in front of goal has improved in his second season at <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/05\/17\/memphis-depay-barcelona-talks\/\" target=\"_self\">Barcelona<\/a>, or Paul Pogba, the French have several key players within their squad.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to their more experienced players &#8211; a combined 400 international appearances have been shared among Hugo Lloris (123), Olivier Giroud (107), Antoine Griezmann (89), and Karim Benzema (81) &#8211; the French also have a number of younger talents starring on the international stage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>GK<\/strong> &#8211; Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Mike Meignan (Lille)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Defenders<\/strong> &#8211; Lucas Digne (Everton), Leo Dubois (Lyon), Lucas Hernandez (Bayern Munich), Presnel Kimpembe (Paris Saint-Germain), Jules Kounde (Sevilla), Clement Lenglet (Barcelona), Benjamin Pavard (Bayern Munich), Raphael Varana (Real Madrid), Kurt Zouma (Chelsea)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Midfielders<\/strong> &#8211; N&#8217;Golo Kante (Chelsea), Thomas Lemar (Atletico Madrid), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Adrien Rabiot (Juventus), Moussa Sissoko (Tottenham Hotspur), Corentin Tolisso (Bayern Munich)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Forwards<\/strong> &#8211; Wissam Ben Yedder (Monaco), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich), Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona), Kylian Mbappe (PSG), Marcus Thuram (Monchengladbach)<\/p>\n<h3>Karim Benzema Returns to French Squad and Could Be a Well-Made Risky Decision<\/h3>\n<p>It has been almost six years since Karim Benzema last donned the colours of Les Bleues.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/05\/16\/zinedine-zidane-real-madrid\/\" target=\"_self\">Real Madrid<\/a> forward, 33, has been absent from the national team since 2015 as a result of his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/57162058\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">alleged involvement<\/a> in an attempted blackmail case.<\/p>\n<p>The allegations meant Benzema missed the 2016 Euro campaign and 2018 World Cup triumph.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"z-jhx39FTL1tbVZrfzcg3g\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/468131152\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'z-jhx39FTL1tbVZrfzcg3g',sig:'jjJFoCWaUrPn0nJBrprvruAe4GuXyjNo0RCDiDcF83g=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'468131152',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Benzema has been one of Real Madrid&#8217;s standout players this season, scoring 29 goals and providing eight assists in all competitions.<\/p>\n<p>The decision by coach Deschamps to pick Benzema over strikers such as Anthony Martial could, therefore, prove to be a successful gamble if the Real Madrid striker can transfer his form from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/05\/15\/la-liga-title-races\/\" target=\"_self\">La Liga<\/a> onto the international stage.<\/p>\n<p>Benzema&#8217;s talent and quality in attack will add to the already stellar striking options of Mbappe and Griezmann.<\/p>\n<h3>Group Stage Fixtures<\/h3>\n<p>France must navigate their way through a particularly tricky Group F should they wish to succeed at this summer&#8217;s competition.<\/p>\n<p>The reigning world champions will take on Portugal, the reigning European champions, Germany, the 2014 World Cup champions, and Hungary.<\/p>\n<p>France v Germany &#8211; June 15, 7pm BST<\/p>\n<p>Hungary v France &#8211; June 19, 1pm BST<\/p>\n<p>Portugal v France &#8211; June 23, 7pm BST<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"Te7tXF4bRHpyBnYd2-tnqg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1231911212\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'Te7tXF4bRHpyBnYd2-tnqg',sig:'LZ_yz6Wn_3dZQDwsiONHwECkAM1CmPOY6KbKjYoICKs=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1231911212',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>France enter the 2020 European Championships as one of the bookies&#8217; favourites having won the World Cup in Russia back in 2018. Les Bleues have one of the most experienced and talented squads featuring in this year&#8217;s cross-continent tournament. The team at Last Word on Football has put together a country profile so that you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3040,"featured_media":591729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,161],"tags":[343,450],"class_list":["post-591716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international-football","tag-euro-2020","tag-france"],"modified_by":"Matt Lee","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3040"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}