World Cup 2018: 5 favourites eliminated at the group stage in past World Cup editions

#3 France – World Cup 2002

Even Zinedine Zidane couldn't help France past the group stage in 2002

France came into the 2002 World Cup not only as reigning world champions, but as reigning European champions too following their victory at Euro 2000.

It seemed utterly inconceivable that they could fail to progress from the group stage, especially when they were drawn alongside Denmark, Uruguay and tournament debutants Senegal in what seemed to be a simple group to navigate.

However, in a re-run of 1990’s opening match that saw Argentina beaten by Cameroon, the defending champions were upset by the African newcomers.

A goal from Papa Bouba Diop handed Senegal a shocking 1-0 victory over a French side who never looked comfortable from the beginning, despite a loaded squad including David Trezeguet and Thierry Henry.

Disaster could’ve been averted, but the Senegal loss was followed by a 0-0 draw with Uruguay that saw France reduced to 10 men when Henry was sent off in the first half for a poor tackle.

That result left the champions needing to beat Denmark by at least two goals to qualify for the knockouts, but instead the Danes reversed the result, beating France 2-0.

France would point to some bad luck as well as the fact that Zinedine Zidane came into the tournament injured and only returned for the Denmark game as the reason for their terrible showing, but in reality they just didn’t play well enough, ending the campaign without scoring a single goal or winning a single match.

The French 2002 campaign remains the worst performance from a defending champion in World Cup history.