France - Group A
Winners of the European Championships back in 1984 and 2000 and World Cup winners the last time a major tournament was hosted on their home soil great things are expected of Didier Deschamps' men this time round.
Get to know: France
France have failed badly in their last three major tournaments – lacklustre in World Cup 2014, disappointing in Euro 2012 and downright embarrassing in World Cup 2010 when they arrived in South Africa as holders.
Expectation for these European Championships is high however and France go into the tournament as narrow favourites. Home advantage is expected to help Didier Deschamps’ men as it did in 1998 when the French won the World Cup on home soil.
In the draw for the main event, France were placed in Group A, alongside Romania, Switzerland and Albania.
Fixtures:
June 10 vs. Romania 7pm – Stade de France, Paris
June 15 vs. Albania 7pm – Stade Velodrome, Marseille
June 19 vs. Switzerland 7pm – Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille
Goal scorers:
France qualified automatically as hosts, so there is no qualification data to draw from. In their 2015/16 friendlies, they have scored a total of 24 goals
Their goal scorers were:
- Olivier Giroud (5)
- Blaise Matuidi (3)
- Mathieu Valbuena (2)
- Dimitri Payet (2)
- Antoine Griezmann (2)
- André-Pierre Gignac (2)
- Karim Benzema (2)
- Raphaël Varane (1)
- Alexandre Lacazette (1)
- N’Golo Kanté (1)
- Nabil Fekir (1)
- Kingsley Coman (1)
- Yohan Cabaye (1)
Qualification Stat Truths:
- Conceded a higher share of shots from outside the box than any team going to the finals (11.1%).
- Second-best shot conversion in the first half of matches of any side at the finals (21.0%).
- Leakiest defence of any side at the finals: one goal conceded for every 4.2 shots faced (although played tougher opponents in friendlies than most qualifiers, who had a few minnows to batter).
- Highest percentage of goals scored in the first 15 minutes of matches of anyone at the finals (29.2% or 7/24).
All data based on France’s 2015 & 2016 international friendlies. Courtesy of the Press Association.