Didier Deschamps, coach of the French national team, has picked a final squad of 25 players for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, instead of the maximum of 26.
The likes of Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni, William Saliba, Ibrahima Konate, and Christopher Nkunku are all making their first trip to the World Cup, while major names like Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante are sitting this one out due to injury.
Four members of the squad hail from Bayern Munich, the most heavily represented club team. While PSG only has two players, Real Madrid has three.
The French World Cup team of 25 for 2022
West Ham’s Alphonse Areola, Tottenham’s Hugo Lloris, and New York’s Steve Mandanda are the team’s goaltenders (Rennes)
As for the back line, Bayern Munich has Lucas Hernandez, Theo Hernandez, Presnel Kimpembe, Ibrahima Konate, Jules Kounde, Barcelona has Jules Kounde, Bayern Munich has Benjamin Pavard, Arsenal has William Saliba, Bayern Munich has Dayot Upamecano, and Real Madrid has Raphael Varane (Man Utd)
Included in this group are the following midfielders: Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid), Youssouf Fofana (Monaco), Matteo Guendouzi (Marseille), Adrien Rabiot (Juventus), Aurelien Tchouameni (Real Madrid), and Jordan Veretout (Marseille)
To start, we have forwards Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich), Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona), Olivier Giroud (AC Milan), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Kylian Mbappe (PSG), and Christopher Nkunku (Paris Saint-Germain) (RB Leipzig)
As the defending champions from their 2014 victory in Russia, France will be carrying the trophy into Qatar. When they went into the last World Cup as reigning champions, things went horribly wrong. They were shocked by first-time qualifiers Senegal in the opening game, and they went on to lose all three of their group stage matches without scoring a single goal.
The French will play Australia on November 22, followed by matches against Denmark and Tunisia over the next week.
France’s national team hopes to join Brazil (with five titles) and Italy and Germany (with four titles each) as the only countries to win three World Cups.
