France national football B team

History

Pre-history

Main article: Football at the 1908 Summer Olympics

The France B team was officially created in 1922, however, at the 1908 Summer Olympics, two teams from France participated in the tournament, the main team and a "B" side, but the matches that this team played in London are not recognised by French Football Federation (FFF) as official B team games. France B was eliminated in the first round by Denmark with a score of 9–0, but the main team did no better as Denmark then defeated France A in the semi-finals by a score of 17–1, conceding 10 goals from one player alone, which was a world record at the time. Remarkably, both French teams conceded pokers from Vilhelm Wolfhagen.

Early history

France B was officially created in 1922 and the team made its debut on 15 January 1922 at the ground of SC Luxembourg in Luxembourg City, where they lost to the Luxembourg A team 3–2, courtesy of a hat-trick from Robert Elter, but France B fought back and achieved some vengeance in their next game when they faced the Luxembourg A team again on 25 February 1923 at Stade Bergeyre in Paris, this time being them the ones to win 3–2.

Mediterranean Cup

Until 1968 (except for war years), the French B side played at least one match per year, with their most-scheduled year being in 1952 with eight matches against foreign nations A or B, of which France lost only once, a 3–1 defeat at the hands of Saarland.

Decline

After 1968, the use by French coaches of this selection became rarer: between 1971 and 1982, only eight matches took place and then the B side became inactive. It was Michel Platini, the then French coach, who revived this team under the name of France A– on 16 November 1988, which remained unchanged (with the exception of the period between 1990 and 1992, when the team was again called the "France B team") until 2001.

Recent history

The most recent match of France B was on 5 February 2008 against Congo DR in Marbella, the day before the regular A-team friendly in Málaga. The team line-up was Steve Mandanda (Hugo Lloris 46'); Gaël Clichy, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Philippe Mexès, Bacary Sagna; Jérôme Rothen, Alou Diarra, Samir Nasri (Gaël Givet 76'), Mathieu Flamini (Jérémy Menez 17'), Jimmy Briand; Djibril Cissé; team members Sébastien Squillaci and Abou Diaby were not used.

Results

Prunier Dedebant Guérin Bancarel Leboeuf Baticle Madar Née Vairelles Robert Monterrubio Monterrubio Ricken

References

References

1. (18 February 2021). "France - B/A'-Team - International Results 1922-2001".
2. Jon Carter. "Great Britain's first home Olympic football adventure".
3. "Boxscore of Denmark-France match".
4. "International football match: 15.01.1922 Luxembourg vs France*".
5. (8 March 2005). "Luxembourg - List of Unofficial International Matches".
6. "Mediterranean Cup 1953-1957 results".