It’s a stat the French would like to forget but will have to live with, a difficult history at the FIFA World Cup against African nations. Didier Deschamps side have not had an easy road to the semifinals, after topping their group the French defeated Poland and England to get to the semifinals against upstart Morocco.
This will be France’s seventh semifinal appearance at the World Cup, and the team has won their last three in 1998, 2006, and 2018, two out of the three times they won the World Cup. France also has a favorable history against Morocco, winners of three matches and drawing two.
What France does not have and will hope to break is a good record against African nations at the FIFA World Cup. Here is France’s dubious history against teams from Africa.
France’s World Cup record against African teams
France is the nation with the most losses to African teams at World Cups, their strife began against Senegal in 2002 in the opening match of the 2022 World Cup 1-0. In a dismal World Cup in South Africa, France finished bottom of their group with no wins and only 1 draw. Against host South Africa the French suffered a 2-1 defeat and were sent packing.
Now in 2022, this same French side was defeated by Tunisia 1-0, although France had already qualified for the round of 16. No team has ever lost to two African teams in one World Cup, so that stat is in the French’s favor.
Morocco on the other hand will look to make history by becoming the first African team to play in the World Cup final where the winner between France – Morocco will play against Lionel Messi and Argentina on Sunday.