How did they get there: CSA Europe Elite League member.
Manager: Jacques Rougeville.
Captain: Paul 'Ron' Zennon. The 33-year-old has played in every EuroCup; a long haired 21-year-old made his France CSA debut in EuroCup '96. He has more than 120 caps to his name, and has unsurprisingly decided he will retire from internationals after this tournament.
Euro highlights: The 2000 2-1 final win over Spain, which was decided in sudden death extra time.
Euro legend: Lionel LaRoux, for scoring the golden goal winner in EuroCup 00.
Star player: Sebastien Lacroix, the Nottingham Fire striker has scored 26 goals since his début in 2002.
Strengths: Midfield. Rougeville usually employs a 5-man midfield with Christian Le Pen and Jean Michel Ramirez playing in the holding role. Ron Zennon and Yannick Bourgeois penetrate from the wings while Jean Paul Sanchez does his stuff in attacking midfield. Their responsibility is to pass it to the lone striker Seba Lacroix, and when Lacroix finds space, he usually finds the net.
Weaknesses: Arrogance. They are very arrogant especially the blue-haired full-back Marc Askowitz.
World ranking: 8th.
Our verdict: With Hungary, Sweden and Turkey in their group, you can expect France to go through but don't count your chickens. They can easily choke on the big stage as evident in CSA World Cup 2006 where they crashed out of the first round despite being in a relatively easy group.
