There’s nothing about France’s record in this competition which makes much sense. Women's Euro 2022 will be their seventh European Championship, yet a nation that has averaged a FIFA ranking of sixth since 2003 has never made it beyond the final eight.
When you consider that the first three tournaments featured, er, eight teams, it makes for bleak reading. Les Bleues’ World Cup record isn’t a lot better either: only once in four attempts have they made it beyond the quarter-finals. Given that Lyon have won eight of the last 12 Women’s Champions League crowns on offer, with no shortage of French stars in their ranks, it’s a puzzler.
In 2017, France were booted out by an England side they hadn’t lost to since 1974, having been penalty shootout victims four years earlier against Denmark. In 2009, they at least made it out of their group for the first time, only to lose on spot-kicks to a Dutch team making their debut outing at a major tournament.
In fact, Les Bleues have only ever won two knockout matches in major competitions full stop – and the last one of those came 10 years ago, when they saw off Sweden at the 2012 Olympics. This time under their 121-cap international Corinne Diacre, though, there’s serious hope that the hoodoo will end.
Diacre herself made headlines in 2012 when men’s side Clermont Foot hired her as manager, but she’s been with the national team since their last Euros exit in 2017 and took them into June’s batch of warm-up matches on a 12-game winning streak. Given that Germany, the Netherlands and Brazil all fell in that time, their capacity to beat the best is clear to see.
But that’s never really been the issue. While France’s men have often flipped from the sublime to ridiculous at major tournaments, Diacre will pray that an utterly bizarre year at Division 1 Feminine runners-up PSG won’t ruin her own team’s prospects.
Last November, midfielder Kheira Hamraoui was attacked by a pair of masked men wielding iron bars, resulting in the arrest of her own PSG team-mate Aminata Diallo – it actually transpired that Hamraoui had been having an affair with ex-France international Eric Abidal, leading to his wife publicly calling for a divorce. In May, to cap off a thoroughly grim season, PSG boss Didier Olle-Nicolle was temporarily suspended for “inappropriate actions and comments”.
Neither Hamraoui nor Diallo have represented their national team since at least 2019, but numerous PSG stars will be in Diacre’s squad and ruffled by a tough year in which they were beaten by Lyon in both Division 1 and the Champions League semi-finals.
Recent results suggest club rivalries can be put to one side, but history tells us nothing is ever certain when it comes to France on the elite stage. Their biggest rival is the hardest one to overcome: themselves...
