France keep faith in winners

After finishing as runners-up at the last World Cup two years ago, France have now been placed in the 'Group of Death' along with Italy, Holland and Romania in Euro 2008.

Coach Raymond Domenech has kept faith in a generation of players that led the French to the top and has called up on three Barça stars in Thierry Henry, Éric Abidal and Lilian Thuram. Mixing the old with the new, there will also be some new faces in the squad and many will be thinking about avenging their defeat in the World Cup final when they meet Italy in the tournament.

First time out

The tournament in Austria and Switzerland is the first for the French since Zinedine Zidane retired from the game and his presence maybe missed as he was so influential in the success of the team at World Cup '98 and Euro 2000. Names such as William Gallas, Claude Makélélé and Karim Benzema will still mean that they are billed as one of the favourites though.

Important players

Looking at the trio of FC Barcelona stars in the ranks of Les Bleus, it is easy to see why all of them should play big roles in the team. Thuram is the leader of the defence with Abidal strong on the left, while up front Henry will be sought out for his goalscoring ability.

Spain on the agenda

If the French qualify from the tough group then in the first knockout stage they will play one of the two qualifiers from Spain's group and if they do meet la Furia Roja then there could be six Barça stars squaring up.