Appearing at a sixth successive finals, France will be hoping to add to their victories in 1984 and 2000 after holding their nerve to keep Bosnia and Herzegovina at bay and win Group D.

France's turn-of-the-century success, winning the 1998 FIFA World Cup before holding their collective nerve to secure their second UEFA European Championship two years later, has felt far removed of late. Les Bleus exited the 2002 and 2010 World Cups at the first hurdle and, either side of finishing runners-up at the 2006 World Cup, left only brief impressions at UEFA EURO 2004 and UEFA EURO 2008. Under Laurent Blanc past glories have not seemed quite so distant in qualifying – though they had the odd scare, not least in their final group game against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

HOW THEY QUALIFIED
Qualifying for France was not an easy affair. After a turbulent World Cup campaign, they were quickly thrust into further turmoil with a home defeat against a well-organised Belarus side, though that would be their sole defeat of the campaign, and the last time les Bleus have been beaten in any match.

Crucial to their quest was their immediate ability to bounce back in Bosnia, where they defeated their hosts 2-0. A series of solid if unspectacular performances followed, leaving their final match, also against Safet Susic's side, crucial.

Edin Dzeko would give Bosnia & Herzegovina the lead, but a nervous French side riddled with injury problems battled back and qualified thanks to a Samir Nasri penalty.

PAST RECORD IN THE EUROS  
1960    Fourth                1988    Did not qualify
1964    Did not qualify     1992    Group stage
1968    Did not qualify     1996    Semi-finals
1972    Did not qualify     2000    Winners
1976    Did not qualify     2004    Quarter-final
1980    Did not qualify     2008    Group stage
1984    Winners             2012    Qualified as group winners

France may have won the European Championship twice, but their record in the competition as a whole is remarkably mundane otherwise.

Led by the great Michel Platini in 1984, les Bleus picked up their maiden success on home soil, having barely tasted the final stages of the competition previously, and they would repeat that victory in dramatic circumstances over Italy 16 years later.

Since then, les Bleus crashed out to eventual-winners Greece at the quarter-final stage in 2004 before failing miserably to make even the slightest impression on the ‘Group of Death’ four years later, when they were humiliated by the Netherlands and Italy.

Better is hoped of this team.

Matches played
Overall: P130 W73 D33 L24 F252 A119
Final tournament: P28 W14 D7 L7 F46 A34
Qualifying: P102 W59 D26 L17 F206 A85