France have dropped their captain, a manager quoting Albert Einstein and a quarter-final curse to overcome - so can they really win Euro 2025?

Off-pitch matters are taking centre stage once again for Les Bleues, who are still trying to win a major tournament for the first time

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  Constant controversy

  In recent years, it seems that France just cannot enter a major tournament quietly and without off-pitch fuss. For a long time, that drama often stemmed from head coach Corinne Diacre, a polarising figure who had her fair share of fall-outs with key players. Diacre took the post after the team's disappointing quarter-final exit at Euro 2017 and made her mark in her first tournament in charge, when she omitted Marie-Antoinette Katoto, who had just won the league's Golden Boot, from her squad for the 2019 Women's World Cup. At Euro 2022, it was Amandine Henry's turn to be left out, just days after her Player of the Match display in Lyon's win over Barcelona in the Champions League final.

  Of course, a manager is entitled to make these decisions - but when the team repeatedly fails to get over the line in a major tournament, despite having the talent and potential to do so, such choices will be put under the microscope and scrutinised. Plus, it wasn't just player selection that made Diacre so controversial. Her management style was often criticised, with Wendie Renard, Lyon's eight-time Champions League winner, explaining in her autobiography that Diacre stripped her of the national team captaincy in 2017 because she believed the star defender had not "yet reached international level".

Women's EURO

France
France
19 Jul 202515:00

Germany
Germany
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  Quarter-final curse

  When Renard announced that she would not play at the 2023 Women's World Cup, the federation as a whole was suddenly being questioned, too. "I love France more than anything else, I am not perfect, far from it, but I can no longer support the current system which is far from the requirements of the highest level," she said in a statement that led to Katoto and Kadidiatou Diani, France's two star attackers, following suit. Those actions brought about change, with the federation dismissing Diacre from her role as head coach.

  However, that was just four months before the World Cup was set to begin, leaving Les Bleues in a tricky spot going into the tournament. In came Herve Renard, well-known for his achievements across various men's national teams, having enjoyed success with Zambia, Ivory Coast, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. This, though, was his first job in the women's game.

  It didn't start well,as France were beaten by Australia in the quarter-finals. It was the sixth time in their last seven major tournaments that Les Bleues had exited at that stage, the exception being their Euro 2022 semi-final loss to Germany. At their home Olympics a year later, they made it seven quarter-final exits in eight tournaments when they lost to Brazil, despite dominating that knockout clash and having so many chances to seal victory. It was a result that came amid so much talk of Renard's future, with him linked to both the Egypt and Nigeria jobs in the build-up to the Games, and he would leave his role after the tournament ended.

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  New dawn?

  Under Bonadei, Renard's assistant and eventual successor, things felt different. He came into the job with minimal fuss and has delivered great performances and results since taking charge back in August. After experimenting and looking at as many players as possible in a quartet of friendlies at the end of 2024, which produced two wins and two defeats, Bonadei has overseen a run of eight successive wins in 2025, the first six of those in the Nations League, which Les Bleues will play the finals of later this year.

  It has all sounded positive away from matches, too. Bonadei has brought in a coach that specialises in mental preparation, in order to address the "collective or individual blockage" that France's recent major tournament performances suggest exists, and he has tried his best not to change much about his interactions with the players from when he was an assistant.

  "I am closer to them now because my management is based on authenticity," he explained in an interview with Vcoaching. "I told them, 'If you called me Laurent and addressed me informally when I was an assistant, above all, don't start addressing me formally and calling me coach, because I remain the same. The most important thing is respect. If I ask you something, you do it. If you ask me something, I try to meet your expectations'."

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  Chaos returns

  It all seemed to be going impressively well, then... Until the bombshell news in April that Bonadei had dropped Renard, Eugenie Le Sommer and Kenza Dali from his squad and that they would not be going to Euro 2025, either. It was a huge shock; all three are hugely experienced players, Renard was the team's captain and Le Sommer the vice-captain. If the latter was a more understandable omission, having, aged 36, not been as key a player for Lyon as in previous seasons, and Dali a decision made on coach's preference, with the midfield an extremely competitive area of this team, Renard's absence in particular was stunning. Aged 34, she remains one of the very best centre-backs in the world.

  A recent injury to Griedge Mbock Bathy, and concerns over whether she will be fit to start the tournament in the heart of France's defence, has increased the attention on that decision, while the fact Bonadei explained his reasons with an Albert Einstein quote only added to the absurdity of it all.

  “These are tough choices,” he said. “They are difficult to make and difficult to announce to the players. It’s a decision that’s hard to hear, hard to understand and almost impossible for them to accept because they’re legendary players for the French team. I didn’t make this decision in the spur of the moment. You’d think, given the timing, that this is crazy - but it’s not. As Einstein said, ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result'. I want different results for this team so I have gone with a different selection.”

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  Different outcome?

  France have been here before. When Diacre dropped Katoto in 2019 and Henry in 2022, she did so believing that the team could still succeed. They didn't. Will Bonadei's decisions be added to that ill-fated list? Or will his bold moves prove to be inspired?

  There is every chance that Les Bleues win Euro 2025. Their squad is packed with talent and the results and performances have suggested they have the level to, finally, go all the way. “We have a great team, we have young players, we have more experienced players,” Grace Geyoro, Paris Saint-Germain's midfield general, told the Guardian last week. “We score goals, we win important matches. We have players who have won titles this season. We used to count on individual talent, on the difference-making of just one player. Today, we rely on the collective side. We need a whole group and those who come in, those who do not start the competition, maybe they will be the ones who will finish it.”

  Will that be the case? Or will the chaos of recent months, and the absence of some extremely experienced and talented players, catch up with France?

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  Rumbling on

  Les Bleues' campaign begins on Saturday, against England, the European champions. It is the start of a very difficult group stage, which will later feature a clash with spirited debutantes Wales and conclude against the Netherlands, winners of this tournament in 2017. The French, the English and the Dutch will all have ambitions of winning Euro 2025, but at least one of them will fall at the first hurdle.

  If that is the fate of the former, Bonadei's decisions will come into such sharp focus. If France make it beyond the group stage and lose in the quarter-finals again, that will also be the case. In fact, it's hard to see anything other than a long-awaited major tournament triumph quietening those who believe the coach has made some mistakes with his squad selection.

  Yet, even if that is the case, even if Les Bleues hoist that trophy above their heads in Basel on July 27, this story is unlikely to go away. "I will tell my side of the story after the Euros, for only one reason – it’s because I have too much respect for my team-mates to put the spotlight on a decision that is difficult to accept because I think there are a lot of lies," Dali told the Guardian last month of her omission. “I really hope they do well. I have too much respect for the jersey to put out my side of the story now. I know it’s going to be everywhere and they are preparing for the Euros and I don’t want to disturb that."

  It's really never straight-forward when it comes to Les Bleues.