The French national football team is the national team that represents France in international football matches and tournaments. It has been a member of FIFA since 1904. The French national team is one of the most successful national teams in the world, having won gold at two World Cups (1998 and 2018), two European Championships (1984 and 2000), and the 1984 Olympic Games.
The first official match of the French national team was held on May 1, 1904, against Belgium, the match ended with a score of 3:3. Before the first World Cup in 1930, the French took part in four more Olympic tournaments in 1908, 1920, 1924 and 1928, but did not take prizes. And in 1930, the French became participants in the first World Cup.
The French national team played in the final stage of the European Championship ten times, and the tournament in 2024 will be the 11th for her. The team took the first gold medals 24 years after the start of the Euros, in 1984. In 1992, France did not make it out of the group, but four years later became the owner of bronze medals in the tournament. In 2000, the French took gold again. Since then, the national team has participated in all Euros, but only once went beyond the quarterfinal stage. It happened in 2016, in that draw France took silver. And in 2018 at the World Cup in Russia, France won the world trophy for the second time in its history.
Throughout history, the French national football team has been accompanied by the symbol of the rooster. And there is a rather logical explanation for this.
During the conquest of Gaul (the territory of modern France), the Romans called the barbarians Gauls because of their bright appearance and rooster feathers on their helmets. In Latin gallus has two meanings: gall and rooster. Since the French consider themselves descendants of the Celts, the name “Gauls” has stuck to them. And here the rooster, the second meaning of the term gallus, has become the unofficial symbol of the French nation. In their opinion, it represents nobility, irascibility, bravery, stubbornness, and pride.
Today, the logo of the French national team features, in addition to the rooster, the abbreviation of the French Football Federation (FFF) and two stars, the symbol of victory at the 1998 and 2018 World Cup.
The French national team has its roots in the Union des Sociétés Françaises des Sports Athlétiques, (USFSA). In 1904, the USFSA was among the founders of FIFA. The emblem of this association, created in 1894, is a classic crest with two connected rings of blue and red on a white background.
The symbol of France, a rooster, appeared on the emblem in 1907 and has been there ever since. It was an ornate colorful image of a bird drawn on a white classy crest with a thick outline in gold, white, blue, and red. The rooster was accompanied by the CFI abbreviation, which stands for the Comité Français Interfédéral, an organization, which replaced the USFSA. This logo stayed with the team for a decade.
In 1919 the Rooster was redrawn in thicker and smoother strokes in yellow, orange, and brown colors. Now the symbol of the team was set on a transparent background, and depending on the usage, it could have different frames and taglines. It was whether a thin red crest-shaped outline or a triple one in the national tricolor.
The redesign of 1967 introduced a more minimalistic and modern emblem for the French National Football Team. It was a golden rooster in a dark blue outline, standing on a blue horizontally oriented rectangle with the golden “F. F. F.” abbreviation, supported by the golden frame of the same thickness as the bars of the characters.
The contours of the rooster were refined and the colors of the emblem got brighter after the redesign of 1970. The outline was removed from the main symbol of the team, and it made the whole badge look more confident and clean. The golden shade of the logo became more delightful, while the blue got an intense electric shade. The letters on the banner were rewritten in a bolder typeface.
The first five-pointed golden star was added to the France National Football Team logo in 1998 after they became the Champions of the 1998 FIFA World Cup. All other elements remained the same. This logo was in use for eight more years.
A completely new era of visual identity design started for the French National Football Team in 2006. The cockerel was redrawn in several smooth waving ribbons, in gold, on a white background. The bird in the new logo was turned to the right. As for two other elements, the star remained untouched, but the banner with the abbreviation was significantly changed. Not the medium-weight golden “FFF” was executed in a stylized sans-serif and set on a white background enclosed into a golden frame.
The color palette of the France National Football Team logo was changed from gold and white to blue and white. It could be whether a white image and lettering on a solid blue crest, or the reverse version with the white background and blue graphical elements on it.
The primary version of the National Team got its colors refined — the white rooster turned gold, while the background remained the same. As for the secondary version of the badge, it kept its navy-blue-on-white scheme.
The gold shade was removed from the visual identity of the France National Football Team in 2013, and the white and blue scheme was back again. However, the shade of blue, used for the new badge, was darker than the one from 2011, which made the whole image more elegant and sleek.
In 2014 a new design concept for the France National Football Team was introduced. The rooster was redrawn with more details but again got turned to the left. The color palette remained blue and white, however, now there are several shades of blue, and a bit of gray, which adds motion to the composition. As for the lettering part, it is now written in small yet bold capitals right under the cockerel, without any framing.
In 2018, a second star was added to the emblem, in honor of the 2018 FIFA World Cup victory. All other elements fully repeat the logo, designed for the France National Football Tram in 2014.
The bold geometric “FFF” abbreviation from the official logo of the France National Football Team is set in the uppercase of a modern sans-serif typeface, which looks similar to such commercial fonts as Golden Sans, Marratrade Sans, or Rigatrade.
As for the color palette of the France National Football Team, it is based on the combination of blue and white, two of the three national colors of the country. These shades stand for professionalism, loyalty, and confidence.