Stade de France in the context of "Olympic torch"

The France national football team (French: Équipe de France de football) represents France in men's international football. It is controlled by the French Football Federation (FFF; Fédération française de football), the governing body for football in France. It is a member of UEFA in Europe and FIFA in global competitions. The team's colours and imagery reference two national symbols: the French blue-white-red tricolour and Gallic rooster (coq gaulois). The team is colloquially known as Les Bleus (The Blues). They play home matches at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis and train at Centre National du Football in Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines.

Founded in 1904, the team has won two FIFA World Cups, two UEFA European Championships, one CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions, two FIFA Confederations Cups and one UEFA Nations League title. France was one of the four European teams that participated in the first World Cup in 1930. Twenty-eight years later, the team led by Raymond Kopa and Just Fontaine finished in third place at the 1958 World Cup. France experienced much of its success in three different eras: in the 1980s, the late 1990s to early 2000s, and the late 2010s to early 2020s.

The closing ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics took place at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on 11 August 2024.

As per traditional Olympic protocol, the ceremony featured cultural presentations from both the current (France) and following (United States) host countries, as well as closing remarks by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach and the COJOP2024 President Tony Estanguet; the official handover of the Olympic flag from Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo to Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass, whose city would host the 2028 Summer Olympics; and the extinguishing of the Olympic flame. The ceremony featured a mix of filmed and live segments, which included the second half of the Los Angeles 2028 presentation, recorded in Long Beach, California.

The Coupe de France (French pronunciation: [kup də fʁɑ̃s]), also known in English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and professional football clubs in France, including clubs based in the overseas departments and territories. Between 1917 and 1919, the competition was called the Coupe Charles Simon, in tribute of Charles Simon, a French sportsman and the founder of the French Interfederal Committee (the ancestor of the French Football Federation), who died in 1915 while serving in World War I. The final is played at the Stade de France and the winner qualifies for the group stage of the UEFA Europa League and a place in the Trophée des Champions match. A concurrent women's tournament is also held, the Coupe de France Féminine.

Combined with random draws and one-off matches (no replays), the Coupe de France can be difficult for the bigger clubs to win. The competition is usually beneficial to the amateur clubs as it forces higher-ranked clubs, usually professional clubs, to play as the away team when drawn against lower-league opposition if they are competing more than one level below them. Despite this advantage, only three amateur clubs have reached the final since professionalism was introduced in French football in 1932: Calais RUFC in 2000, US Quevilly in 2012 and Les Herbiers VF in 2018. Two clubs from outside Ligue 1 have won the competition, Le Havre in 1959 and Guingamp in 2009. The reigning champions are Paris Saint-Germain, who defeated Reims in the final of the 2024–25 competition.

The France national rugby union team (French: Équipe de France de rugby à XV, pronounced [ekip də fʁɑ̃s də ʁyɡbi a kɛ̃z]) represents France in men's international rugby union matches. Colloquially known as Le XV de France (French for "The XV of France") or Les Bleus (French for "The Blues"), the team is governed by the French Rugby Federation (FFR; Fédération française de rugby). They traditionally wear blue shirts with a Gallic rooster on the chest, white shorts and red socks in reference to the French national flag. They mostly play home matches at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, near Paris. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship along with England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. France have won the tournament 27 times (including 8 shared victories), and this includes winning the Grand Slam 10 times.

Rugby was introduced to France in 1872 by the British before a first France national team was formed in 1893, as a selection of the best Parisian club players under the governance of the USFSA, to face a club in England. A few years later, on New Year's Day 1906, the national team played its first test match against New Zealand in Paris. France then played sporadically against the Home Nations until they joined them in 1910 to form the Five Nations Championship. France also competed in the rugby competitions at early Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal in 1900 and two silver medals in the 1920s. The national team came of age during the 1950s and 1960s, winning their first Five Nations title outright in 1959. They won their first Grand Slam in 1968. Their latest championship win was in 2025 under head coach Fabien Galthié, who is also a former captain of the team.

The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the second time in the history of the tournament (the first was in 1938), defeating Morocco in the bidding process. It was the ninth time that it was held in Europe. Spanning 32 days, it was the longest World Cup tournament ever held and with the most teams (32 teams in the competition finals) until 2026 (when the World Cup was expanded to 48 teams).

Qualification for the finals began in March 1996 and concluded in November 1997. For the first time in the competition, the group stage was expanded from 24 teams to 32, with eight groups of four. 64 matches were played in 10 stadiums in 10 host cities, with the opening match and final staged at the newly built Stade de France in the Parisian commune of Saint-Denis.

The 1998 FIFA World Cup final was the final match of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, the 16th edition of the quadrennial football competition organised by FIFA for the men's national teams of its member associations. The match was played at the Stade de France in Paris, France, on 12 July 1998, and was contested by Brazil and France. The tournament featured France as the hosts, Brazil as the winners of the previous World Cup and 30 other teams who emerged from the qualification tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 32 teams competed in a group stage, from which 16 teams qualified for the knockout stage. En route to the final, Brazil finished first in Group A, with two wins and one defeat, after which they beat Chile in the round of 16, Denmark in the quarter-finals and the Netherlands in a penalty shoot-out in the semi-finals. France finished top of Group C with three wins, before defeating Paraguay in the round of 16, Italy in the quarter-final, and Croatia in the semi-final. The final took place in front of 75,000 supporters, with an estimated 1.3 billion watching on television, and was refereed by Said Belqola from Morocco.

Before the match, speculation surrounded the fitness of striker Ronaldo, who was initially left out of Brazil's starting line-up, only to be restored to the team before kick-off. France took the lead shortly before the half-hour mark, when Zinedine Zidane outjumped Leonardo to connect with a header from an in-swinging corner from the right taken by Emmanuel Petit. Zidane scored again, with another header from a corner, shortly before half-time to give France a 2–0 lead. Petit then added a third goal in second-half injury time, striking the ball low into the net following a pass by Patrick Vieira, to complete a 3–0 win for France.