How many times have France qualified for the quarter-finals of the World Cup? What is their record?
France find themselves back in the World Cup quarter finals, familiar territory for Les Bleus who are hoping to defend the trophy in Qatar.
Defending world champions France became the third team to book their place in the quarter finals at Qatar 2022 after beating Poland 2-0 in Doha on Sunday. As Deschamps’ side eased into the Last 8, Hugo Lloris equalled Lilian Thurman’s appearances record - one which he will make his own in the next week’s quarter final against England; and Olivier Giroud overtook Thierry Henry’s 12-year record to become the top scorer of all time with the national team.
At +500, France figure alongside Brazil and Argentina as one of the big favourites to win this year’s World Cup - it would have been a surprise had they not made it this far - their track record puts them among the top performers in the tournament’s history - even if they have only have two trophies to show for it.
France were one of the 13 nations who took part in the very first World Cup finals in 1930. Since then, they have only failed to qualify four times (1970, 1974, 1990 and 1994) but otherwise have played every single edition and usually make it past the group stage at the very least.
This is the ninth time that France have made it as far as the quarter finals - and the first time they have achieved it in three consecutive editions (2014, 2018 and 2022). Out of the previous eight appearances, they have only failed to advance to the semi-finals twice - they were beaten 3-1 by Italy when they hosted the event for the first time in 1938 and lost 0-1 to eventual champions Germany at Brazil 2014.
France’s appearances in the quarter finals and beyond at the World Cup
1938 - quarter finals: lost 3-1 to Italy
1958 - semi-finals: lost 5-2 to Brazil
1982 - semi-finals: lost 5-4 on penalties to West Germany (3-3 aet)
1986 - semi-finals: lost 0-2 to West Germany
1998 - final: Champions - beat Brazil 0-3
2006 - final: lost 5-3 on penalties to Italy (1-1 aet)
2014 - quarter finals: lost 0-1 to Germany
2018 - final: Champions - beat Croatia 4-2
2022 - quarter finals: ?