The first four meetings between the French national side and the English amateur selection were rather lopsided affairs, Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt all over: the French conceded ten or more goals in all matches in the first decade of the twentieth century, even if there was noticeable improvement in that the margin of defeat decreased from one encounter to the next.
After finally defeating the English amateurs at the eighth try, hundred years to the day after the death of Napoléon on Saint Helena, contemporary French papers considered the Corsican general (and, of course, Jeanne d'Arc) had been avenged, and the English granted them the favour of turning up with their full national team in future meetings. It took the French another decade (and six intermediate losses, all in Paris and with an aggregate score of 6-25, or 1-4 per match) to defeat that side, by 5-2 no less, just over two weeks before the 500th anniversary of the burning of La Pucelle d'Orléans. Only a Frenchman could have come up with the concept of lieu de mémoire.
Since then, the two rivals have met in numerous friendly matches, with honours being more or less shared (though, like in the Hundred Years' War, later encounters more often than not went to the French), three World Cup matches (in 1966 and 1982, both won by the three lions, who also defeated their hosts in the 1997 Tournoi de France, a general repetition for the World Cup tournament one year later, and in 2022, won by France) and five matches for the European Championship (qualifying and final tournaments), in which les bleus are undefeated (two wins, three draws).
The first eight matches involved the English amateur team and are not considered official internationals for England. Those matches are marked with "England Am" and are counted separately in the stats. All matches are friendlies unless stated otherwise.
Game Date Venue Result Remark
A 1. 1-11-1906 Paris France 0-15 England Am
A 2. 23- 3-1908 London England Am 12-0 France
A 3. 22- 5-1909 Paris France 0-11 England Am
A 4. 16- 4-1910 Brighton England Am 10-1 France
A 5. 23- 3-1911 Paris France 0-3 England Am
A 6. 27- 2-1913 Paris France 1-4 England Am
A 7. 5- 4-1920 Rouen France 0-5 England Am
A 8. 5- 5-1921 Paris France 2-1 England Am
1. 10- 5-1923 Paris France 1-4 England
2. 17- 5-1924 Paris France 1-3 England
3. 21- 5-1925 Paris France 2-3 England
4. 26- 5-1927 Paris France 0-6 England
5. 17- 5-1928 Paris France 1-5 England
6. 9- 5-1929 Paris France 1-4 England
7. 14- 5-1931 Paris France 5-2 England
8. 6-12-1933 London England 4-1 France
9. 26- 5-1938 Paris France 2-4 England
V -. 26- 5-1945 London England 2-2 France [V]
V -. 19- 5-1946 Paris France 2-1 England [V]
10. 3- 5-1947 London England 3-0 France
11. 22- 5-1949 Paris France 1-3 England
12. 3-10-1951 London England 2-2 France
13. 15- 5-1955 Paris France 1-0 England
14. 27-11-1957 London England 4-0 France
15. 3-10-1962 Sheffield England 1-1 France [European Champ. Qual.]
16. 27- 2-1963 Paris France 5-2 England [European Champ. Qual.]
17. 20- 7-1966 London England 2-0 France [World Cup]
18. 12- 3-1969 London England 5-0 France
19. 16- 6-1982 Bilbao England 3-1 France [World Cup]
20. 29- 2-1984 Paris France 2-0 England
21. 19- 2-1992 London England 2-0 France
22. 14- 6-1992 Malmö England 0-0 France [European Championship]
23. 7- 6-1997 Montpellier France 0-1 England [Tournoi de France]
24. 10- 2-1999 London England 0-2 France
25. 2- 9-2000 Paris France 1-1 England
26. 13- 6-2004 Lisboa France 2-1 England [European Championship]
27. 26- 3-2008 Paris France 1-0 England
28. 17-11-2010 London England 1-2 France
29. 11- 6-2012 Donetsk France 1-1 England [European Championship]
30. 17-11-2015 London England 2-0 France
31. 13- 6-2017 Paris France 3-2 England
32. 10-12-2022 Al-Khor France 2-1 England [World Cup]
[V] these matches (both "Victory Internationals") are official for France but not
for England (and therefore not included in the overviews below)
Total record:
England 32 17 5 10 72- 41 39
England Amateur 8 7 0 1 61- 4 14
France 40 11 5 24 45-133 27
Some more stats:
Pd E D F EG- FG
In England: 13 9 2 2 48- 9
[amateurs] 2 2 0 0 22- 1
[off. England] 11 7 2 2 26- 8
In France: 22 14 1 7 79- 30
[amateurs] 6 5 0 1 39- 3
[off. England] 16 9 1 6 40- 27
Elsewhere: 5 1 2 2 6- 6
England - List of International Matches
France - List of International Matches
Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Karel Stokkermans
(karel.rsssf@gmail.com)
Last updated: 27 Sep 2023
(C) Copyright Karel Stokkermans
and RSSSF 2017/23
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.