Staged in France for the second time in the history of the tournament, the 1998 FIFA World Cup had the distinction of being the first to feature 32 teams in the finals. The tournament format consisted of eight groups of four teams, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the knockout stage. As hosts, France were seeded into Group C, where they were joined by Denmark, South Africa and Saudi Arabia.
With a squad that included the likes of Laurent Blanc, Didier Deschamps and Zinedine Zidane, among others, France were priced up as 6/1 second favourites, behind only the holders, Brazil, pre-tournament. Indeed, that price started to look generous as they breezed through the group stage with a 100% record, scoring nine goals and conceding just one, a Michael Laudrup penalty for Denmark in their final group game. France beat Denmark 2-1 in any case, having previous beaten South Africa 3-0 and Saudi Arabia 4-0, despite the sending off of Zinedine Zidane after 71 minutes.
It would be fair to say that the knockout stages proved less straightforward for Les Bleus. In the round of 16, they needed a Laurent Blanc ‘golden goal’ towards the end of the first period of extra time to beat Paraguay 1-0. Their quarter-final against was goalless after 90 minutes, and 120 minutes, but France won 4-3 on penalties after Italian midfielder Luigi Di Biagio hit the crossbar with the decisive spot-kick. In the semi-final, against Croatia at the Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France trailed, albeit briefly, to a Davor Šuker goal just after half-time, but French defender Lilian Thuram equalised a minute later and added a second goal 20 minutes from time to give his side victory, 2-1.
The World Cup final against Brazil, at the same venue four days later, was eagerly anticipated but proved to be something of an anti-climax, at least for Brazilian fans. France led 2-0 at half-time, courtesy of two headed goals by Zinedine Zidane, both from corners, and fellow midfielder added a third, deep into injury time, to give the hosts a 3-0 victory.