Here we take a look at France's World Cup squad and the other things it will be handy to know about the Group C challengers.
France's World Cup squad - the 23 names
Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda, Alphonse Areola.
Defenders: Djibril Sidibe, Benjamin Pavard, Adil Rami, Raphael Varane, Samuel Umtiti, Presnel Kimpembe, Benjamin Mendy, Lucas Hernandez.
Midfielders: Paul Pogba, Blaise Matuidi, Corentin Tolisso, N'Golo Kante, Steven Nzonzi.
Forwards: Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele, Florian Thauvin, Thomas Lemar, Nabil Fekir.
France's World Cup 2018 fixtures
- Australia: Saturday, June 16 at 11am
- Peru: Thursday, June 21 at 4pm
- Denmark: Tuesday, June 26 at 3pm
How should France line up?
Pick your team here:
What odds are France to win the World Cup?
Odds 13/2
The kits
See where France's shirts ends up in our ranking of all 64 World Cup shirts below:
Who's the coach?
Didier Deschamps, refined ‘water carrier’, who captained the 1998 World Cup winning side and coached them to runners-up spot at Euro 2016.
What are his and France's tactics and likely formation?
JJ Bull on France's lightening quick attack:
Who's the star?
Antoine Griezmann, sinuous dribbler with extraordinary ball skill and a wide range of tricks which he employs pertinently and a wonderfully efficient finisher.
Best thing about them
The youthful zest and swaggering skill of Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Thomas Lemar, Griezmann, Paul Pogba et al make them favourites … for 2022.
Worst thing about them
Inexperience and being more effective playing on the counter - for all their verve they have a strange coyness when the impetus is on them to take teams apart.
You may recognise…
All are household names in Europe or soon will be but no one at the tournament will have a tidier beard than facial topiarist Olivier Giroud.
Fans' favourite chant
Perennial favourite: “Allez les Bleus”
On-field prediction
Semi-finals and possibly beyond.
Off-field prediction
Tricolors, dressing and drinking with elan and some berk will smuggle a cockerel into a stadium.