17 August 1994 - That's The Way To Make A Debut

On 17 August 1994, Zinedine Zidane debuted for France, scoring two late goals to earn a draw with the Czech Republic.

The 22-year old midfielder had already made a name for himself with eight seasons in Ligue 1—split equally between Cannes and Bordeaux—and had just completed his first year with Juventus by winning the 1997 Serie A title. But despite six years playing for France's youth teams, he had failed to make the leap into the senior squad.

That changed in August 1994, when he came on as a substitute in a friendly against the Czech Republic. Playing in Bordeaux, Les Bleus were down 0-2 at the break after conceding goals to Tomáš Skuhravý (42') and Daniel Šmejkal (45'). That prompted manager Aimé Jacquet to make a couple of changes at the start of the second half, one of which was bringing Zidane on for Corentin Martins.

France were still down 0-2 deep into the second half when, in the 85th minute, Zidane received a pass just inside the Czech half, beat two defenders, and unleashed a sonic boom of a shot from 25 yards out into the far top corner. That alone would have made it a memorable debut, but he added a second goal two minutes later with a towering header from about 10 yards out to earn the 2-2 draw.

He went on to score a total of 31 goals in 108 appearances for France while reaching the World Cup final twice and winning it in 1998.

27 November 1941 - France's Friend In Need

On 27 November 1941, World Cup-winning French manager Aimé Jacquet was born in the commune of Sail-sous-Couzan.

He enjoyed a long a successful playing career as a defensive midfielder, spending thirteen seasons at Saint-Étienne from 1960 to 1973. While there, he won five league titles and lifted the Coupe de France three times (and in 1968, he made his only two appearances for France). He moved to Lyon for his last two seasons before retiring in 1976, then took charge of the club as manager that year.

After four seasons in charge of Lyon, he switched to Bordeaux and guided the Girondins to the league title in 1984 and 1985, the Coupe de France in 1986, and a league and cup double in 1987. Despite that success, he fell out with the club president and left in 1989. Brief spells with Montpellier (1989-90) and Nancy (1990-91) followed before he took the reins of the national team in 1993.

When he took over, France had just failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup and shortly afterward suffered the loss of captain Eric Cantona to a year-long suspension. But he rebuilt the team around midfielder Zinedine Zidane and led them to the quarterfinals of Euro '96.

He adopted a 4-2-1-3 formation and frequently experimented with his line-up, which drew heavy criticism from French commentators. But his work led France to victory in the 1998 World Cup with a 3-0 victory over Brazil in the Stade de France.

Jacquet stepped down as manager immediately after the tournament, but served as technical director for the national team until his retirement 2006.