France

(c) Picture Stanislas Brochier

Following the retirement of several international players in march 2008, the French team has since been on a rebuilding process. The French objective is clear: win this tournament to qualify for the World Cup 2010.

17th in the World ranking, the French are placed in the middle of the range compared to the other participating countries : Pakistan, 7th; Japan 14th; Poland 22nd; Russia 23rd; Italy 26th. With the support of their fans, the "Tricolores" who have been preparing this  tournament since the beginning of the year, should give their opponents a lot of trouble.

In the 1st round, they will successively face: Poland (Saturday October 31st at 3.30pm), Italy (Sunday November 1st at 3.30pm), Pakistan (Tuesday November 3rd at 3.30pm) and then Russia (Thursay November 5th at 3.30pm) to finish with Japan (Saturday November 7th at 3.00pm).

If the French manage to win the tournament, they will qualify for the World Cup for the 3rd time in their history (1971 and 1990).

2008 and 2009 results:

• 6th at the Rabo EuroHockey Nations Championship
• 3rd at the Champion's Challenge II 2009
• 3rd at the Olympic qualifier tournament 2008 (Auckland-New Zealand)

First win of France: 3-0

(c) Jeremy Roussin - All the pictures in the Gallery

Second match for both teams-Italy and France-under torrential rains. The victory is important for the squads in order to stay in the race of the World Cup.

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France completes Belgium series, selects qualifier team

(c) Picture Jérémy Roussin - On the 22 players who were at the last training camp, 18 have been selected to play the Qualifier.

France has completed a two-game series against Belgium, winning game two 4-3 and losing game one 4-5.

Game one Wednesday 14 October was a high standard with both teams working hard to create opportunities in attack.

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France to play Belgium

(c) Picture Stanislas Brochier - François Scheefer in Belgique vs France (European Championship 2009)

France will play Belgium on 14 and 15 October in their final matches before selecting the team for the World Cup Qualifier tournament in Lille from 31 October to 8 November.

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Pakistan Series cancelled

(c) Picture Gryphon - Nicolas Monnier

Due to events outside of both teams’ control, the proposed three-game series between Pakistan and France has been cancelled.

Originally, three matches were planned for the end of September, but a delay in the Pakistan entourage receiving travel visas to Europe forced a revision of the match dates.

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Preparation : France vs Ireland

(c) Igor Meijer - Auckland 2008

France fielded a significantly changed squad from its recent success at the European Cup where they finished sixth and secured a berth at the 2011 European Cup in Germany.

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