World Cup finalists France race into Euro 2024 as favourites for the crown

If Didier Deschamps leads France to victory in Germany, he will become only the second person, after German Berti Vogts, to win a European Championship as both a player and a manager.

And as politicians from across the spectrum ponder their words and antics ahead of the votes in France on 30 June and 7 July, France boss Deschamps will juggle with the tactics to enable his squad to seize the spoils they effectively threw away four years ago.

France went into the 2020 competition – delayed to 2021 due to Covid-19 – as favourites following their victory at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

But after leading Switzerland 3-1 in the last-16, they were pegged back to 3-3 and lost in a penalty shoot-out. Star striker Kylian Mbappé missed the decisive kick.

Three years on, Mbappé, 25, will skipper the France squad in what will be a dress rehearsal for his grand opening in La Liga at Real Madrid in August.

The France team – whcih occupies second place in the Fifa rankings – will include a host of the usual suspects such as Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud and Ousmane Dembélé.

“We don’t have to talk about past tournaments, we all know what happened there.

Read more on RFI English

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