Chelsea's French World Cup heroes

Gusto is Chelsea's only French representative at the 2026 World Cup, but he follows in the footsteps of some famous predecessors who have shone for the Blues and Les Bleus, including six who have triumphed on the global stage.

As Gusto and France prepare to conclude their current group stage campaign against Norway at 8pm UK time tonight, with top spot up for grabs for the winner, we look back at every Chelsea player to have reached the World Cup final with Les Bleus.

1998

Only Barcelona had more players competing at the 1998 World Cup than Chelsea’s 11, and our representatives included defenders Marcel Desailly and Frank Leboeuf in hosts France’s squad. The contingent would be boosted, with Didier Deschamps and Emmanuel Petit joining the Blues later, while Nicolas Anelka was named in Aime Jacquet’s provisional list, before being cut from the final 22.

Desailly had only finalised his move from AC Milan to Chelsea three days before France’s first game against South Africa, but took his place alongside Laurent Blanc in Les Bleus’ established centre-back pairing for that game. Their midfield that day was made of captain Deschamps, who would join his close friend Desailly at Stamford Bridge a year later, and Petit, then playing his club football across London with Arsenal.

They would continue to play key roles for their country as they swept through the group stage with three wins from three. Things got a bit tighter once the knockout rounds arrived, though, needing a golden goal in extra time to beat Paraguay and a penalty shootout to see off Italy before a narrow 2-1 victory over Croatia in the semis.

That last win came at a cost, as Blanc picked up a red card and was suspended for the final against an all-star Brazil line-up. Leboeuf had already stepped in when Jacquet rotated for the last group game, but this was the Chelsea man’s chance alongside Desailly for the biggest game of all, a home World Cup final, handed the daunting task of marking Ronaldo.

As would soon become apparent at Stamford Bridge on a regular basis, the Desailly-Leboeuf combination in defence was a winning one. Although Desailly was shown a red card himself in the final at the Stade de France, Les Bleus were already 2-0 up by that point, and Brazil were looking beaten. It would finish 3-0 to the hosts, with Desailly and Leboeuf playing a huge role in keeping the Selecao’s superstar attack quiet for a clean sheet, allowing skipper Deschamps to become the first Frenchman to lift the World Cup trophy.

2006

After the disastrous defence of their title in 2002, France headed to Germany for the 2006 World Cup with Chelsea duo William Gallas and Claude Makelele in their ranks, alongside Florent Malouda, a year before joining the Blues from Lyon.

The two Blues played every minute of the group stage, while Malouda was introduced from the second game. It was another shaky start for France, though, beginning with draws against Switzerland and South Korea, but they managed a 2-0 win over Togo without suspended captain Zinedine Zidane to progress in second place.

Gallas and Makelele continued to feature throughout the campaign, the former forming a formidable partnership with Lilian Thuram, the latter doing the dirty work to allow Zidane to flourish. After coming from behind to beat Spain, clean sheets were the key to victories over Brazil and Portugal, sending France to another World Cup final.

However, this time there was to be no happy ending for Les Bleus. It started well when Zidane gave France the lead from the penalty spot after Malouda was fouled by Marco Materazzi, but the Italy defender equalised from a corner to leave things level at half-time.

Malouda had a second penalty appeal waved away, and then they were into extra time. Zidane was sent off for reacting violently to Materazzi’s provocation, the game continued without further scoring, and France suffered the pain of a penalty shootout defeat.

2018

Heading to Russia in 2018, that 2006 final defeat remained France’s only appearance beyond the quarter-finals since winning the World Cup for the first time 20 years earlier. With N’Golo Kante and Olivier Giroud in their team, that was about to change.

Having won two Premier League titles with Leicester City and Chelsea, Kante was well established in the side and started every game, forming arguably the tournament’s best midfield line-up alongside Paul Pogba and Blaise Matuidi.

However, the clamour for the flair players saw Didier Deschamps succumb to fan pressure and leave Giroud out for their first game. After struggling to a 2-1 win over Australia, Deschamps stuck to his insistence that Giroud’s centre-forward play got the best out of Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe, and the man who had switched Arsenal for Chelsea earlier that year was back in.

A thrilling 4-3 win over Argentina – considered one of the greatest World Cup matches of all time – brought the smiles back as the knockout stages began, before more straightforward victories over Uruguay and Belgium, both without conceding, carried France’s run all the way to the final.

Kante recovered from an illness scare to take his place in midfield again against Croatia, with Deschamps sticking by Giroud to lead the attack in the last game of what was a goalless tournament for the striker. Both Chelsea players’ value lay in their selfless approach to the game, though, which was on full display in another exciting game, as France triumphed 4-2 in a Moscow thunderstorm to be crowned world champions again.

2022

France travelled to Qatar in 2022, hoping to do a better job of defending their World Cup title than they had last time around, 20 years earlier in 2002. However, their preparations were disrupted when future Chelsea forward Christopher Nkunku and defender Presnel Kimpembe both withdrew from the squad due to injury. The latter was replaced by another man who would go on to join the Blues, Axel Disasi. He joined Giroud, who by this time had left for AC Milan, in Deschamps’ final squad.

Disasi was a surprise choice, being uncapped at the time, and made his senior international debut in their last group game against Tunisia. By that time, France were already through, helped by a Giroud brace in a 4-1 opening win over Australia. This would be no goalless World Cup for Oli.

Giroud scored again in the 3-1 last-16 win over Poland, and again as they saw off England in a tight quarter-final, before navigating their way past surprise package Morocco to meet Enzo Fernandez’s Argentina in the final.

The final soon became a case of Lionel Messi vs Kylian Mbappe, getting five goals between them in an incredible 3-3 draw. It was eventually decided by penalties, with neither Giroud or Disasi on the pitch to take part, Argentina eventually triumphing to make France the only side to have lost two World Cup final shootouts.

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