THE HISTORY
Champions on home turf 12 years ago, French football reached its peak in 1998 when Zinedine Zidane, alongside the likes of former Chelsea men Didier Deschamps, Frank Leboeuf, Marcel Desailly and Emmanuel Petit secured a memorable victory.

They hadn't even qualified in the previous two tournaments, so to become champions (their world ranking had been as low as 25 going into the tournament) was a tremendous achievement.

Up to that point it was France's only ever final, though they had reached the semis on three previous occasions, driven by Michel Platini in 1982 and 1986, and in Sweden in 1958, when a Pelé hat-trick put Brazil through to the final. In that tournament, Frenchman Just Fontaine scored a record 13 goals.

After winning in '98 France also became European champions in 2000, and were tipped to succeed again in 2002, yet injury to Zidane left them without a creative spark and they duly crashed out in the group stages.

2006 was the opposite, this time the French were not hot favourites, but gradually gained momentum through the tournament - beating Spain, Brazil and Portugal on the way to the final, where only a Zidane headbutt and a penalty shootout prevented them from beating Italy.

THE CURRENT SITUATION
All the ingredients are there, genuine top class talent flows through the squad, yet as a unit they have so far flattered to deceive.

Coach Raymond Domenech has struggled to gel the individuals into a team and it took a Thierry Henry handball to guarantee qualification via the play-offs against Ireland after Serbia had won their group - as France Football puts it, 'France have a great team on paper and a wobbly one on grass.'

Florent Malouda, at least, has been in the form of his life, while a front line that includes Nicolas Anelka, Karim Benzema and Thierry Henry should provide goals.
A group containing hosts South Africa, Mexico and Uruguay should see the French progress on top, but you just never know.

NICOLAS ANELKA
He may have been just a 19-year-old but fresh from winning the Double with Arsenal, it was surprising to see the lightning-quick Nicolas not part of France's victorious 1998 squad, especially given the goal-shy nature of the strikers selected.

Even more surprising us that he was not chosen for either of the World Cup since. Consequently, South Africa is the first time on international football's biggest stage for the now 31-year-old who was Thierry Henry's most regular strike partner in qualifying.

Nicolas has averaged a goal every five games in his 60-plus international matches.

FLORENT MALOUDA
By no means a regular under Raymond Domenech's regime (Florent was only selected for a quarter of the qualification campaign), his outstanding Chelsea form maybe enough to swing starting 11 selection from a coach with whom he has a difficult relationship.

Bordeaux's Yoann Gourcuff is competition for a place but should Florent make the pitch then he will add to over 50 appearances and will be hoping to increase on his surprisingly low total of three France goals.

A veteran of the Final defeat to Italy four years ago when he won the penalty from which France opened the scoring.

THE NON-CHELSEA ONE TO WATCH

Franck Ribery, Bayern Munich. Injury-proneness aside, the 26-year-old is world-class and has long been touted with a move to England. He can beat a man easily with a combination of pace and trickery, and produces big goals when needed. Off-field problems however could take their toll.