FEATURE | France celebrates 25-year anniversary of historic Euro triumph | OneFootball

July 2, 2000, is a day that will forever be etched in the memory of French football. It is a day when a historic achievement was reached. On that day 25 years ago, Les Bleus did what no footballing nation had ever done before in one of the most competitive tournaments in the world.

Coming into Euro 2000 as world champions, Aimé Jacquet’s successor, Roger Lemerre, inherited a squad who were among the teams to beat, though the French nearly missed out on a chance at history.

France’s Euro 2000 qualification campaign

In typical French fashion, Les Bleus booked their ticket to Euro 2000 on the final matchday of qualifying in a nervy back-and-forth triumph over Iceland (3-2). The reigning World Cup holders were a point behind Ukraine for an automatic berth in that competition and level on points with Russia heading into the final qualifiers.

While the crowd at the Stade de France saw the French squander a 2-0 lead versus Iceland, it was David Trezeguet who put France in front, netting the winner 19 minutes from the end, though it wouldn’t be the first time the French striker would be the hero for this team.

That win, combined with a 1-1 draw between Russia the Ukraine, officially booked their place in Belgium and the Netherlands that following summer.

France navigate through a difficult group phase

While the French were the reigning World Cup champions, they were in arguably the group of death at Euro 2000. With only 16 nations competing at that time, a top-two finish was needed to prolong their Euro journey beyond the group phase.

That was no easy task given they were in a group that featured the hosts and France ’98 semi-finalists the Netherlands, and Denmark who won the tournament in 1992 and were quarter-finalists at the aforementioned World Cup, along with the Czech Republic, ranked second by FIFA at the time, and runners-up at the 1996 Euro.

To their credit, though, France found a way through that stiff competition, beating the Danes 3-0 before defeating the Czechs by a narrow 2-1 margin. Although they lost their final group fixture against the Dutch 3-2 after Lemerre made wholesale changes to the squad, France were safely through to the quarter-finals.

Heading into the last eight, Lemerre’s side were feeling strong, pulling off two group triumphs, with impressive showings from its stars Zinedine Zidane, Youri Djorkaeff and Thierry Henry, plus its rock-solid backline no pun intended of Bixente Lizarazu, Marcel Desailly, Laurent Blanc and Lillian Thuram.

Penalty drama

Their primary starting XI were well-rested, with most sitting out of the match against Holland and facing an upstart Spain squad that was coming off a dramatic last-gasp victory over Yugoslavia.

Zizou put on a masterclass in the last eight, scoring on a brilliant free kick, before a thumping Djorkaeff effort put them up 2-1 in the opening half.

In the end, though they barely escaped thanks to a Raul penalty miss in the dying stages, with La Roja’s regular penalty taker Gaizka Mendieta scoring earlier in the match from the spot.

Against Luis Figo’s Portugal in the semis, Les Bleus were down 1-0 at the interval to a Nuno Gomes strike despite carrying the bulk of the play throughout the first 45 minutes.

It was once again this team’s stars that came through, with Henry equalising early in the second half, while Zidane won the match on a controversial penalty decision late in extra-time, as Abel Xavier was judged to have handled the ball on a Sylvain Wiltord shot. It was a dramatic turn of events for a player who nearly won the match for Portugal with a dynamite Xavier header off a Figo free kick, miraculously saved by Fabien Barthez.

Zidane would convert the extra-time penalty to send the French into the final in what was, back then, a sudden-death golden goal extra-time.

The Final

Facing an Italian wall anchored by Fabio Canavarro and Alessandro Nesta, penetrating Dino Zoff’s side, with the towering presence of Francesco Toldo in goal, would be no easy task.

In a reversal of fortune, it was the Italians who had most of the ball in the opening half of the final, limiting the French and, in particular, Zidane, who’d been virtually unstoppable in every prior match to that one. Gli Azzurri took a deserved lead through Marco Delvecchio early in the second half.

France had chances to come back but couldn’t find a way through, with Toldo notably stopping Henry from close range. Lemerre’s three changes in the second half, though, would end up tipping the scales in France’s favour.

With 30 seconds of stoppage time remaining, substitute Sylvain Wiltord levelled the match at 1-1 with the Italians already celebrating on the touchline before that.

Having been bailed out in the dying stages of the match, Les Bleus poured it on in extra-time, with the brilliance of substitute Robert Pires finding fellow substitute Trezeguet for a worldly volley that flew into the top corner to give them the title.

The French Stars

While the French were established as world champions heading into Euro 2000, many of their young stars showed how truly special and unique they were.

Thierry Henry led the way with three goals, with the Arsenal man later becoming the record goalscorer for Les Bleus years later before Olivier Giroud (38) bested his mark at the 2022 World Cup.

Meanwhile, Zizou showed that his performances in the ’98 final were no fluke. He was named player of the tournament in 2000, scoring twice, while his take-ons, control and vision were truly remarkable.

He would later earn a move to Real Madrid for a then-record fee in 2001, while Trezeguet became a prolific goalscorer at Juventus, and Henry went on to be arguably the greatest player in the history of Arsenal.

France make history

It’s never easy when watching the French play, but with their victory on July 2, 2000, they became the first nation to follow up a World Cup win by lifting the Euro two years earlier. Germany had done it the opposite way, capturing the 1972 Euro and 1974 World Cup.

That French side may go down as the most impressive we’ve ever seen, with Ballon d’Or winner Zinedine Zidane, along with Henry and Trezeguet, who won multiple Golden Boot awards in the Premier League and Serie A, respectively.

Not long after that tournament, captain Deschamps retired from the national team, as did Blanc. The French backline of Thuram, Blanc, Desailly and Lizarazu would never lose a single match when starting together for Les Bleus in that back four.

Since that triumph, only one nation has been able to duplicate France’s achievement, with Vicente Del Bosque’s Spain winning Euro 2012 after lifting the World Cup in 2010.

France has been to one Euro final since that 2000 triumph and is still seeking their third title at that tournament, which would put them on par with Germany for second all-time.

GFFN | Joel Lefevre