France coach Jacques Santini has included nine England-based players in his squad for the EURO 2004 finals.
Chelsea’s Marcel Desailly, who with 112 appearances is FRance’s most capped player ever, leads the team which defends the title they won in 2000.
Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira is one of four players from the English champions along with Robert Pires, Thierry Henry and Sylvain Wiltord. Joining the Arsenal contingent are Manchester United’s Louis Saha and Mikael Silvestre, along with Chelsea’s William Gallas and Claude Makelele,
France won all their qualifying matches and play England in their opening match on June 13. Croatia and Switzerland are their other first round opponents.
France squad:
Goalkeepers: Fabien Barthez (Marseille), Gregory Coupet (Lyon), Mickael Landreau (Nantes)
Defenders: Jean-Alain Boumsong (Auxerre), Marcel Desailly (Chelsea/ENG), William Gallas (Chelsea/ENG), Bixente Lizarazu (Bayern Munich/GER), Mikael Silvestre (Manchester United/ENG), Lilian Thuram (Juventus Turin/ITA), Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich/GER)
Midfielders: Ludovic Giuly (Monaco), Claude Makelele (Chelsea/ENG), Olivier Dacourt (AS Roma/ITA), Patrick Vieira (Arsenal/ENG), Robert Pires (Arsenal/ENG), Jerome Rothen (Monaco), Sylvain Wiltord (Arsenal/ENG), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid/SPA), Benoit Pedretti (Sochaux)
Strikers: Thierry Henry (Arsenal/ENG), David Trezeguet (Juventus/ITA), Louis Saha (Manchester United/ENG), Steve Marlet (Marseille)