Austria vs France facts

Austria will attempt to improve their record against France as the teams kick off their UEFA EURO 2024 Group D campaigns at the Düsseldorf Arena.

The Austrians have nine wins in 25 matches against France overall but only one in the last ten and lost their last fixture against Les Bleus in 2022.

Austria are aiming to build on their EURO 2020 campaign, when they reached the knockout rounds for the first time and took eventual champions Italy to extra time in the round of 16. That was also the stage at which two-time winners France bowed out – only the second time in the last seven editions of the UEFA European Championship they had not reached the last eight or better.

Group D is completed by Poland and the Netherlands.

Previous meetings

Matches 25
Austria wins 9
France wins 13
Draws 3
Austria goals 41
France goals 42

The sides played each other for the first time in 13 years in the 2022/23 UEFA Nations League, France needing an 83rd-minute Kylian Mbappé equaliser to rescue a 1-1 draw at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna on 10 June 2022 after Andreas Weimann's 37-minute opener for Ralf Rangnick's Austria.

Mbappé opened the scoring as Didier Deschamps' France won 2-0 at the Stade de France in the reverse fixture in Saint-Denis on 22 September 2022. The striker found the net in the 56th minute, with Olivier Giroud sealing a 2-0 home victory nine minutes later.

The teams' previous meetings had come in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying, each recording a 3-1 home win with Karim Benzema and Thierry Henry on target in France's win in Paris.

That victory in Vienna in September 2008 is Austria's only win in their last ten games against France (D2 L7).

That sequence also includes France's 1-0 second group stage win in Madrid in the 1982 World Cup group stage, Bernard Genghini scoring the only goal of the game at the Estadio Vicente Calderón.

Austria had beaten France 3-2 after extra time at the 1934 World Cup.

This is only the sides' third European Championship fixture, and a first since March 1960. Drawn together in the quarter-finals of the inaugural competition, France won both matches for a 9-4 aggregate victory. A Just Fontaine hat-trick helped Les Bleus to a 5-2 home win at the Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir in Colombes on 13 December 1959 before Raymond Kopa's late penalty rounded off a 4-2 away victory at Vienna's Praterstadion on 27 March 1960.

EURO facts

Austria

Co-hosts with Switzerland in 2008 – their EURO debut – Austria are featuring in the tournament for the fourth time and the third in succession.

EURO 2020 proved to be their most successful campaign to date, a side coached by Franco Foda finishing second in Group C, behind the Netherlands but ahead of Ukraine and North Macedonia, to reach the knockout stages for the first time. Their campaign was ended by a 2-1 extra-time defeat by eventual champions Italy at Wembley in the round of 16.

Austria had never won a match at a EURO before the last tournament, when they managed victories against both North Macedonia (3-1) and Ukraine (1-0) in the group stage. Their record in the finals is now W2 D2 L6.

With Ralf Rangnick appointed as Foda's successor in April 2022, Austria won six of their eight EURO 2024 qualifiers, losing only one – 3-2 at home to Belgium – to finish second in Group F on 19 points, one behind the Belgians. They qualified with a 1-0 victory in Azerbaijan in their penultimate fixture, on 16 October.

That loss to Belgium was Austria's only defeat in 2023; their record otherwise was W7 D2.

This is Austria's first game at both the Düsseldorf Arena and in the city overall.

France

European champions in 1984, as hosts, and 2000, France are in the finals for the 11th time overall and have not missed a tournament since 1988.

Hosts in 2016, when they lost to Portugal in the final, Les Bleus have been coached by Didier Deschamps since 2012.

France were first in Group F at EURO 2020, ahead of Germany, holders Portugal and Hungary, but bowed out in the first knockout stage, losing 5-4 on penalties to Switzerland after a 3-3 draw in which they had led 3-1 with nine minutes remaining.

Deschamps' side have reached the final in three of last four FIFA World Cups and European Championships, losing 1-0 after extra time to Portugal in 2016 and Argentina on penalties in 2022 but beating Croatia to claim their second world title in 2018.

France won seven of their eight games on their way to EURO 2024, sealing their place in Germany with two matches to spare thanks to a 2-1 win away to the Netherlands on 13 October. They ended with 22 points, four clear of runners-up the Dutch.

A 14-0 home defeat of Gibraltar in France's penultimate fixture set a new European Championship qualifying record for biggest victory and was also Les Bleus' largest win.

Like Austria, this is France's first game in Düsseldorf.

Links and trivia

Kevin Danso has been a Lens player since 2021, helping the club finish second in Ligue 1 in 2022/23 and playing every minute of their subsequent UEFA Champions League campaign in 2023/24.

Danso's Lens team-mates have included Brice Samba since 2022 and Jonathan Clauss in 2021/22.

Patrick Pentz made seven appearances for Stade de Reims in 2022/23.

Kingsley Coman scored a last-gasp equaliser to earn Bayern München a 1-1 draw at Salzburg in the 2021/22 Champions League round of 16 first leg. He had also found the net in the German club's 3-1 home win in the previous season's group stage.

Two Olivier Giroud goals helped AC Milan to a 4-0 home win against Salzburg in the 2022/23 Champions League group stage.

Injured Austria captain David Alaba plays with Ferland Mendy, Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouaméni at Real Madrid.

Austria midfielder Konrad Laimer joined Bayern in the summer of 2023, playing alongside Dayot Upamecano and Coman.

Laimer played with Upamecano at Salzburg between 2015 and 2017 and at Leipzig from 2017 to 2021, when Ibrahima Konaté was also at the German club.

Marcel Sabitzer played alongside Upamecano, Coman and Benjamin Pavard at Bayern between 2021 and 2023. He also shared the Leipzig dressing room with Upamecano and Konaté from 2017 to 2021.

Austria forward Marko Arnautović and France pair Pavard and Marcus Thuram all signed for Inter Milan in the summer of 2023, winning the 2023/24 Serie A title.

Austria coach Ralf Rangnick managed Upamecano and Konaté at Leipzig in 2018/19.