Argentina and France’s Road to the World Cup Final: Part One -- France's Early Beginnings

A third star on the jersey of its national team is something most nations dream of. The third star went to Argentina this time, France being bitterly disappointed as they failed to make up some ground on Brazil, Germany, and Italy. With the tournament still fresh in our memories, let’s take a look at how this final came to be, more than one hundred years after these national sides played their first games. The usual suspects are once again the English. As much as both sets of fans would love to have it otherwise it was the English who introduced this beautiful sport to both countries.

Since France and England are only 20 miles (32 kilometres) apart, at the Channel’s narrowest point, football only had a short journey to make. The newspaper the Scotsman put it this way in 1863: “A number of English gentlemen living in Paris have lately organised a football club... The football contests take place in the Bois de Boulogne, by permission of the authorities and surprise the French amazingly."

In the next decades, modern versions of the game reached the country and its popularity started to increase. By the turn of the century, the French were competing at the Olympics, where they reached second place. Back then the USFSA, the national sports union, was responsible for internal footballing matters, as well as selecting a team to represent France.

Since they had taken part in the 1900 Olympic Games under the names USFSA XI, or Club Français, the official date of the first international game of the French National Team is recorded as May 1st, 1904. A 3-3 draw against Belgium, played out at the Stade du Vivier d'Oie in Brussels. With everyone saying nowadays that France could field 2 teams and still win the World Cup, we need only look back to the 1908 Summer Olympics where France A and France B participated.