France 2010 Home Shirt

FRANCE - HOME SHIRT 2010

France are one of world football's giants, with the Fédération Française de Football formed back in 1904 and the senior side playing out of the 81,000-seat Stade de France in Saint-Denis, just north of Paris. Known as Les Bleus (The Blues), they carry the Gallic coq (rooster) on the chest and arrived at this era as genuine royalty, having lifted the 1998 World Cup on home soil and Euro 2000 two years later.

This is the kit from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and there is no dressing it up: it clothed one of the most chaotic campaigns any major nation has endured. Raymond Domenech's squad had scraped to the finals through a playoff settled by Thierry Henry's infamous handball against the Republic of Ireland, and that bad karma followed them south. The understated blue shirt looked every inch the part, but France finished rock bottom of Group A with a single point.

On the pitch it unravelled fast. France opened with a flat 0-0 against Uruguay, then slumped to a 2-0 defeat by Mexico. The real story broke off it: Nicolas Anelka was sent home after a half-time bust-up with Domenech, and in solidarity the players refused to train at their Knysna base, staging the famous squad strike. They signed off with a 2-1 loss to hosts South Africa, out at the group stage.

Florent Malouda struck France's only goal of the whole tournament in that final match. The squad featured captain Patrice Evra, Franck Ribery and a young Hugo Lloris, and it was the last World Cup for all-time top scorer Thierry Henry. Evra later copped a five-match ban and Anelka an 18-game suspension, never playing for France again. A real collector's piece from an infamous chapter.

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