| Association | French Football Federation (Fédération Française de Football) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) | ||
| Home stadium | Stade de France | ||
| FIFA code | FRA | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
 Denmark 9–0France  (White City,United Kingdom, 19 October 1908) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
France 7–0Luxembourg (Strasbourg,France, 22 May 1952) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
| Denmark 9–0France (White City,United Kingdom, 19 October 1908) | |||
| Summer Olympics | |||
| Appearances | 1 (first in1908) | ||
| Best result | First round (1908) | ||
TheFrance national football B team is a nationalfootball team representingFrance that plays matches at a lower level than theFrance national football team. In France, the team is usually called"France A–". They commonly played matches against 'B' teams from other football associations, from 1922 to 2001.[1]
The team runs occasionally as a feeder team forFrance national football team, to give a chance tounder-21 or less experienced players to play for the national team without being awarded a fullcap. The team may play matches held before World Cups or other tournaments to give second-choice players, injured players or possible choices an opportunity to play a full game to either keep their fitness levels up or to earn their way into the first team.
The France B team was officially created in 1922, however, at the1908 Summer Olympics, two teams fromFrance participated in the tournament, the main team and a "B" side,[2] but the matches that this team played inLondon are not recognised byFrench Football Federation (FFF) as official B team games. France B was eliminated in the first round byDenmark with a score of 9–0, but the main team did no better as Denmark then defeated France A in the semi-finals by a score of 17–1, conceding 10 goals fromone player alone, which was a world record at the time.[3] Remarkably, both French teams conceded pokers fromVilhelm Wolfhagen.
France B was officially created in 1922 and the team made its debut on 15 January 1922 at theground of SC Luxembourg inLuxembourg City, where they lost to theLuxembourg A team 3–2, courtesy of a hat-trick fromRobert Elter,[4][5] but France B fought back and achieved some vengeance in their next game when they faced the Luxembourg A team again on 25 February 1923 atStade Bergeyre inParis, this time being them the ones to win 3–2.[1]
Until 1968 (except for war years), the French B side played at least one match per year, with their most-scheduled year being in 1952 with eight matches against foreign nations A or B, of which France lost only once, a 3–1 defeat at the hands ofSaarland.[1] In the following year, France B participated in the1953–58 Mediterranean Cup, where they faced the A teams ofTurkey,Egypt andGreece home and away, as well as the B teams ofItaly andSpain, and France started the tournament with three consecutive 0–0 draws before losing 0–2 to Spain B, and their inability to score goals stayed on as they then beat Greece 1–0 only thanks to an own goal, but despite their failure to score a single goal in 5 games, France regained his feet and still managed to finish the tournament in second-place with 12 points, finishing with 4 wins, 4 draws and 2 defeats, with their best victory coming against Egypt (7-1) inNice on 15 April 1955.[6]
After 1968, the use byFrench coaches of this selection became rarer: between 1971 and 1982, only eight matches took place and then the B side became inactive. It wasMichel Platini, the then French coach, who revived this team under the name of France A– on 16 November 1988, which remained unchanged (with the exception of the period between 1990 and 1992, when the team was again called the "France B team") until 2001.
The most recent match of France B was on 5 February 2008 againstCongo DR inMarbella, the day before the regular A-team friendly inMálaga. The team line-up wasSteve Mandanda (Hugo Lloris 46');Gaël Clichy,Jean-Alain Boumsong,Philippe Mexès,Bacary Sagna;Jérôme Rothen,Alou Diarra,Samir Nasri (Gaël Givet 76'),Mathieu Flamini (Jérémy Menez 17'),Jimmy Briand;Djibril Cissé; team membersSébastien Squillaci andAbou Diaby were not used.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(June 2022) |
v
Yugoslavia B| 16 November 1988Friendly | France B | 1–0 | Yugoslavia B | Auxerre,France |
Micciche 90' | Report | Stadium:Stade de l'Abbé-Deschamps |
v
Netherlands B| 15 February 1989Friendly | France B | 1–0 | Netherlands B | Nimes,France |
| Xuereb 17' | Report | Stadium:Stade des Costières |
v France B| 12 January 1993Friendly | Senegal | 1–3 | France B | Dakar,Senegal |
| Sané 88' | Report | Loko 8',52' Prunier 38' | Stadium:Stade Léopold Sédar Senghor |
v
Venezuela| 7 June 1993Friendly | France B | 2–0 | Venezuela | Pointe-à-Pitre,Guadeloupe |
| Report | Dedebant 59' Djorkaeff 67' |
v
Colombia| 10 June 1993Friendly | France B | 1–3 | Colombia | Fort-de-France,France |
| Djorkaeff 46' | Report | Valencia 75',84',90' | Stadium:Stade Pierre-Aliker |
v
Russia U-21| 27 July 1993Friendly | France B | 5–1 | Russia U-21 | Guingamp,France |
| Djorkaeff 15',29' Dedebant 49'Guérin 56' (pen.)Bancarel 73' | Report | Kulik 67' | Stadium:Stade de Roudourou |
v France B| 19 September 1993Friendly | Monaco FC | 1–2 | France B | Monaco,France |
| Simba 31' | Report | Fournier 57' Leboeuf 64' (pen.) | Stadium:Stade Louis II |
v France B| 2 February 1994Friendly | Tunisia | 1–1 | France B | Tunis,Tunisia |
| Mahjoubi 71' | Report | Gnako 4' (pen.) | Stadium:Stade El Menzah |
vFrancophonie XI| 25 May 1994Friendly | France B | 4–1 | Francophonie XI | Évry,France |
| Zitelli 17' Baticle 33',89'Madar 53' | Report | Camara 42' | Stadium:Ludwigsparkstadion |
v
Belgium| 17 January 1995Friendly | France B | 1–0 | Belgium | Le Havre,France |
| Gravelaine 7' | Report | Stadium:Stade Jules Deschaseaux |
v
Slovakia| 25 May 1995Friendly | France B | 1–0 | Slovakia | Cherbourg,France |
| Pouget 37' | Report | Stadium:Stade Maurice-Postaire |
v France B| 24 January 1996Friendly | Italy U-23 | 0–0 | France B | Reggio Calabria,Italy |
| Report | Stadium:Comunale | |||
| Note: France is a U-23 Selection of 2nd Division | ||||
v France B| 26 March 1996Friendly | Belgium U-21 | 1–1 | France B | Charleroi,Belgium |
| Walem 10' | Report | Rodriguez 90' | Stadium:Stade du Pays de Charleroi |
v
Croatia B| 19 January 1999Friendly | France B | 2–0 | Croatia B | Nîmes,France |
| Laigle 65' Née 70' | Report | Stadium:Stade des Costières |
vBelgium U-21| 10 February 1999Friendly | France B | 2–1 | Belgium U-21 | Angers,France |
Déhu Vairelles 31' (pen.)Robert 35' | Report | Maertens 52' | Stadium:Stade Raymond Kopa |
v
Germany B| 2 June 1999Friendly | France B | 2–1 | Germany B | Lens,France |
| Ziani 45' Monterrubio 86' | Report | Schneider 7' | Stadium:Stade Bollaert-Delelis |
v France B| 1 September 1999Friendly | Germany B | 1–3 | France B | Karlsruhe,Germany |
| Neuendorf 25' (pen.) | Report | Maurice 41' (pen.),72' Monterrubio 59' | Stadium:Wildparkstadion |
v France B| 22 February 2000Friendly | Belgium U-21 | 1–1 | France B | Waregem,Belgium |
| Sonck 8' | Report | Diomède 58' | Stadium:Regenboogstadion |
v France B| 25 April 2000Friendly | Morocco Olympics | 0–1 | France B | Casablanca,Morocco |
| Report | Sibierski 77' | Stadium:Stade Mohammed V |
vGermany B| 22 March 2001Friendly | France B | 1–2 | Germany B | Mulhouse,France |
| Marlet 70' (pen.) | Report | Böhme 33' (pen.) Ricken 45' | Stadium:Stade de l'Ill |
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French Football Federation (President:Philippe Diallo (interim))Ligue féminine de football professionnel (President:Jean-Michel Aulas) | |||||||
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