Les Bleus at the 2026 World Cup: from pointless in Paris to Belgium's apprentices

The final five minutes at Hartleyvale Stadium in Cape Town were an assault on the nervous system. South Africa had pulled its goalkeeper, pressed with an extra outfield player and earned three penalty corners in a row in that closing phase. France, leading 2-1, threw bodies in front, blocked, held firm. When the final hooter sounded, on 21 June 2026, France were for the first time winner of the Nations Cup and back in the Pro League, the global elite competition.

This dossier tells how Les Bleus grew in two years from pointless World Cup hosts at their own Games in Paris into the surprise of Europe, shaped along Belgian lines by a trio of foreign coaches working with a sixth of the budget of the Dutch federation. It sketches the playing style, the key players and the mentality, and weighs the real question heading into the 2026 World Cup: does that rise reach far enough to survive in a pool with mentor Belgium and world champion Germany, or does it hit its ceiling there?

World ranking and qualification

France enter the World Cup as the highest-ranked side just outside the traditional world top. That is a remarkable position for a country that, after its own Games in Paris, had slid back to beyond twentieth place. The ranking below shows the current European balance of power.

Qualification for the World Cup came in March 2026, at the qualifying tournament in Santiago de Chile. France finished second behind Ireland and secured their ticket with a 4-2 win over Poland, the third World Cup qualification in a row. Three months later came victory in the Nations Cup and with it the return to the Pro League 2026-27. On a continent where Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany set the tone and England, Spain and Ireland populate the upper midfield, France have worked their way up in a short time from outsider to a side nobody wants to meet in a pool.

All of France's World Cup appearances

France are no newcomer at the World Cup: they were there at the very first tournament in 1971. But for a long time they were a guest who came and disappeared again. The following table shows the French World Cup editions.

The major tournaments

A world title is missing, but French hockey history reaches back surprisingly far, and touches the very roots of the sport. The Fédération Française de Hockey is one of the seven founders of the FIH in 1924, and three of the first FIH presidents were French: Paul Léautey, Frantz Reichel and Marc Bellin du Coteau. Hockey entered the country in the late nineteenth century via British expats; clubs such as Racing Club de France and the Lille of the 1920s laid the foundation. France played in the Olympics from London 1908 to Munich 1972, with a fourth place in 1920 and 1936 as their best result. After that they disappeared from the Olympic stage for well over half a century.

The turning point of the modern era is the 2018 World Cup in India. In a pool with Argentina, New Zealand and Spain, France first lost narrowly to New Zealand and drew with Spain, after which in their decisive group match they pulled off a stunner with a 5-3 win over Olympic champion Argentina, the biggest surprise of the tournament. Through a won crossover they reached the quarter-final and finished eighth, the best World Cup result ever. It was typical of a side that at its best lifts itself above its level, but lacked the consistency to build on it: in 2023 a setback followed straight away.

At continental level France are by contrast a constant presence. Since their European Championship debut in 1970, the very first European championship, they have almost always been there. That first tournament immediately yielded a fourth place, the French high point that would not be equalled until 2025.

Recent editions

At the 2023 World Cup, also in India, France fell back to thirteenth place. The real turnaround came only afterwards, and precisely at continental level: at the 2025 EuroHockey Championship in Mönchengladbach France reached the semi-final, for the first time since 1970, and took fourth place. It was the best European Championship result since that first European tournament, and the foundation beneath qualification for this World Cup.

Philosophy and approach

When the French federation went looking for a new direction after the failed home Games of Paris 2024, president Henri-Claude Lambert brought in the most decorated name from across the border: John-John Dohmen, with 481 caps the most-capped hockey player of all time, former captain of the Belgian Red Lions, Olympic champion in Tokyo and world champion in 2018. Dohmen was a deliberate choice: he knew the Belgian success model from the inside and wanted to pass it on to France. "I had been thinking about it for four or five years", he said after his appointment; when the vacancy came up, he grabbed it at once.

His approach is back to basics: become hard to beat, sharpen team cohesion and improve efficiency in both circles. But the core is mental. Dohmen openly draws the parallel with the rise of the Red Lions fifteen years ago, a team that grew from amateurism to Olympic gold. He believes the French generation is going through a similar awakening, and deliberately hands the players the reins: they must build their own collective identity, the staff merely helps. He also names his own tactical reference points: the mentally strong Shane McLeod and Jeroen Delmee, in his eyes the best tactician in the world and the architect of the Belgian system.

Dohmen's appointment was no isolated move, but the keystone of a broader change of course. Lambert, elected in December 2024, announced after the Games a complete overhaul of the French performance apparatus, a new performance strategy for all national teams, pathways and club relations. Choosing a Belgian head coach with a Spanish and a Dutch assistant was a deliberate break with the past: not muddling along a touch better, but importing the winning culture of the neighbouring countries. That the federation picked top coaches who could keep combining their club work also kept wage costs manageable, a sober precondition for a poor federation.

Paris 2024: the low point and the legacy

The legacy Dohmen builds on began, paradoxically, with a humiliation. As host nation, France got to play Olympic hockey again in 2024 for the first time since Munich 1972, at the renovated Stade Yves-du-Manoir in Colombes, the same place where the first Olympic hockey matches were played in 1924. It became a painful home edition: one draw and four defeats, not a single win, last in the pool. President Lambert spoke bluntly in the French press of the Paris fiasco. Yet not everything was wasted work. The previous head coach Frederic Soyez had, precisely in that Olympic cycle, laid the foundations for a professional elite-sport structure; his expertise was recognised elsewhere immediately, because shortly afterwards Hockey India appointed him as coach of the Indian juniors. For France the board nonetheless chose a break rather than a continuation, and that break was named John-John Dohmen.

Euro 2025 Mönchengladbach: the breakthrough

The first result came faster than anyone dared hope. At the 2025 European Championship France narrowly lost its opening match to Germany (3-2), but after that it beat Poland (5-3) and, decisively, England. That 3-2 against England fell two seconds before time, through Timothée Clément, and delivered the first European semi-final in 55 years. The Netherlands proved too strong in that semi-final (3-1), Spain won the bronze (0-2), but fourth place was historic. Goalkeeper Corentin Saunier was named best goalkeeper of the tournament, eighteen-year-old Malo Martinache best young player.

FIH Pro League: the return via the Nations Cup

France did not play the Pro League over the past two seasons; so there is no current Pro League standing for Les Bleus. The road back to the world elite ran via the Nations Cup of June 2026 in Cape Town. France won its pool, beat Japan in the semi-final (4-3) and defeated host nation South Africa in the final 2-1. With that it secured promotion to the 2026-27 Pro League, a competition it had previously left. Top scorer Victor Charlet, tournament player Corentin Sellier and once again Malo Martinache as best young player underlined that the Euro form was no fluke.

The staff under Dohmen

Dohmen (T1) leads an international trio. The Spaniard Ramon Sala (T2), Olympic silver medallist and club coach at the top of Europe, takes charge of the defensive organisation and the controlled build-up from his own half. The Dutchman Jeroen Hertzberger (T3), the all-time top scorer of the Dutch Hoofdklasse, is responsible for the play from the midfield line towards the circle: applying pressure, positioning the forwards, making the attacking game more productive. Around them stand fitness coach Fabian Bernard, team manager Julien Héricourt and performance coordinator Matthias Dierckens, under the umbrella of technical director Benoit Gallet.

That the approach works is shown by a telling consequence: Hertzberger's French adventure earned him, from the 2026-27 season, his first head-coaching post, at national champions HC Rotterdam. "At France I discovered that I find coaching a great profession," he said. His contract with the French federation ran through this World Cup; the tournament thus becomes his farewell assignment with Les Bleus.

Training group (Euro 2025 / Nations Cup June 2026)

The official World Cup squad of eighteen will not be known until around July. The table below shows the core of the international group from Euro 2025 and the Nations Cup of June 2026. Empty cells are still to be confirmed.

Five key players

Victor Charlet (captain). The physical herald of the team, 1.96 metres tall, captain since 2013 and by far the constant factor in France's rise. Charlet grew up in Wattignies near Lille, played ten years in the strong Belgian league at Waterloo Ducks (European club champions 2019) and returned in September 2024 to his home region, with Polo HC Marcq-en-Barœul. In the French press he is called "l'artificier", the fireworks man, for his devastating drag flick. At the Nations Cup he was top scorer with eight goals; against South Africa he opened with a hat-trick from nothing but penalty corners and a penalty stroke.

Corentin Saunier (goalkeeper). The keeper who can swing a match. At Euro 2025 Saunier was named best goalkeeper of the tournament, with crucial saves in among others the semi-final against the Netherlands. He is attached to the northern French club Lille MHC.

Malo Martinache (talent). Eighteen years old, right-back, child of HC Dunkerque. Twice within a year voted best young player, at Euro 2025 and at the Nations Cup 2026. About his integration he said that it was precisely the experienced players who took him under their wing, a sign of the tight-knit group Dohmen has in mind.

Timothée Clément (attacker). The finisher of the new generation. Clément shot France past England in the very last second at Euro 2025 and into the semi-final, and also scored in the World Cup qualifier against Poland. Fast, technical and, in Hertzberger's words, a player who has been given the daring to just go for it.

Corentin Sellier (attacker). The physical target man up front and the ideal final station of the direct transition. Sellier was at the Nations Cup 2026 voted player of the tournament, excels at shielding the ball under pressure and is the one who wins penalty corners and, in Charlet's deflection variant, redirects the ball. Where Charlet is the finisher from the spot, Sellier is the unrest in the circle that makes it possible in the first place.

Competition analysis by line

The distribution below is indicative, based on the roles in Euro 2025 and the Nations Cup 2026. The definitive World Cup 18 follows in July.

The Dohmen system

Under the Dohmen-Sala-Hertzberger trio, France's game has become a disciplined, hybrid system that leans on the athletic capacity of a physically strong generation. Where French hockey used to be all about high intensity and individual unpredictability, without the structure to turn that into results, there is now a framework built around it. In possession France builds up patiently and wide from its own backline, the hallmark of Sala. The backs push up high and wide, almost like wingers, to stretch the field and create space in the centre for the midfielders. The moment the ball is won, the team switches instantly: no endless passing around, but the ball forward in a few passes, into the circle. Former head coach Soyez summed up that transition mindset as "shorter and faster"; the attackers turn straight onto their forehand to shoot or physically earn a penalty corner.

Defensively, France does not sit back passively, but applies active pressure from the halfway line, the signature of Hertzberger. The forwards form a closed line just ahead of the midfield, shut down the passing lanes to the centre and force the opponent towards the sideline, where the winger and midfielder trap the ball carrier. It is a style of play that the federation's match report captured concisely: concentrated, disciplined, playing high and controlling possession.

This is also where the honest side comes in. France's rise is real, but fragile. The team still concedes too easily when on top, as in the Nations Cup opener against South Africa, and mental consistency is still a work in progress. Against the very best a gap also opens up: at the Euros it ran aground against the Netherlands and Spain, and in the bronze final against Spain, when for the first time there was something to lose, reticence set in. At a World Cup with Belgium and Germany in the pool, that is no small detail.

The penalty corner as a weapon

France is sharpest at the penalty corner, invariably the "petit corner" in the French media. In Charlet it has one of the most feared drag flickers in the world. To compensate for his height he drops deep through his left knee and brings his upper body almost horizontal above the artificial turf, after which he pushes the ball hard into the corners, high in the top corner or low between goalkeeper and defender on the line. Besides the direct push, the French unit has a deflection variant, in which an onrushing attacker (often Sellier) deflects a low shot. His set-piece hat-trick against South Africa showed how dependent, and how dangerous, France is with this weapon.

Belgium: the mentor and the host

The spiciest clash of the pool. France plays its group matches in Wavre, on Belgian soil, against a Belgium that inspired the entire French project, with a Belgian head coach on the French side facing his own country. Belgium is the host nation, former number one and world champion of 2018; for France the toughest imaginable yardstick.

Germany: the reigning world champion

Germany is the defending champion at the World Cup and European champion of 2025. A team with depth, structure and, in Gonzalo Peillat, a drag flicker who finished top scorer at the 2025 Euros. France lost that Euros narrowly to Germany 3-2, a match that showed it can keep up, but just falls short.

Malaysia: the pivotal match

Malaysia is on paper the most attainable opponent and therefore the key to the second round. A fast, technical team with penalty corner danger through veterans like Razie Rahim and Faizal Saari. Whoever wants to advance from pool B must take points here.

Key players per rival

• Belgium: Alexander Hendrickx (drag flick), Tom Boon (finisher), Arthur van Doren (defence).
• Germany: Gonzalo Peillat (penalty corner), Niklas Wellen (attack), Mats Grambusch (captain).
• Malaysia: Razie Rahim (penalty corner), Faizal Saari (attack), Mohamad Anuar Esook (attack).

To understand the French mentality, you have to start with the night bus. In the summer of 2025 Hertzberger revealed the reality behind the successes: the French federation works with perhaps a sixth of the KNHB's budget. No money for ice baths, barely any training balls, eating out is often out of the question, and the technical director took the night bus to Mönchengladbach because the train was too expensive. Where Hertzberger had been used to perfectly arranged facilities at Oranje, in France he found poverty. And it is precisely there that Dohmen and Hertzberger built a culture of extreme collective sacrifice, following the Belgian example.

The biggest challenge, Hertzberger says, was not physical or technical, but mental: "Getting the players to realise how good they actually are. Often fear plays a part: the idea that it won't work out anyway. You then have to have the courage to try it regardless." He tied the natural French pride to attacking daring. The return was immediately visible against England at the Euros: "A year ago we would have lost a match like that 4-1. Now the statistics were in our favour. The lads have written their own history." Captain Charlet, who alongside hockey works as a physical and mental coach, sums up the hunger in four words: never satisfied, always in the action. The next step, everyone around the team admits, is learning to handle the pressure of having something to lose, the feeling that was still missing at the Euros in the bronze final against Spain.

French field hockey is a small, tight-knit world with two clear hearts. The oldest beats in the North, the Hauts-de-France: Lille, Roubaix, Douai, Cambrai, Wattignies, Marcq-en-Barœul and Dunkirk. The other lies in and around Paris, with clubs like Racing Club de France, Stade Français, Saint-Germain HC and CA Montrouge. Lille Metropole Hockey Club, founded in 1924, is the most decorated men's club in the country. The national core is strikingly northern: Charlet, Saunier and Martinache all have their roots in the region right up against the Belgian border, which explains the choice for a Belgian model and the affinity with the Belgian league.

That proximity also shapes how French internationals develop. Because their own league does not reach the top level, the best ones head across the border: Charlet played ten years at Waterloo Ducks, others found their way to the Belgian Division d'Honneur, where they face Europe's elite every week. That export model effectively makes the Belgian league the training school of the French team, with all the upsides and downsides that brings: a high level, but little that makes French club hockey itself visible. At the same time, the North supplies a steady stream of young talent. Martinache, a child of Dunkirk's HCDM 59, is the poster boy for that: an eighteen-year-old who in the space of a year grew from a youth player into the twice-named best young player of a continental and a global tournament.

It is a modest federation, with around 185 clubs and some 17,000 members, a fraction of the Dutch or German numbers. The federation sits at the Stade Yves-du-Manoir in Colombes, the Olympic hockey venue of both 1924 and Paris 2024, a lovely historical symmetry. Charlet points to the big difference with the neighbouring countries: in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands field hockey is a hyper-mediatised sport, while in France it is only just starting to break through to a wider audience. The domestic Elite finals are now broadcast on television, and a successful national team is exactly the lever French hockey needs to make that step.

The tournament venues for France

The World Cup 2026 is played from 15 to 30 August in Amstelveen (Wagener Stadion) and Wavre (Belfius Hockey Arena). France plays its pool matches in Wavre, on Belgian soil. The men's final is on Sunday 30 August, also in Wavre.

Pool B and the tournament format

France is drawn in pool B, together with host nation Belgium, reigning world champion Germany and Malaysia, on paper the toughest pool of the tournament. The sixteen nations are split across four pools of four; the top two per pool advance to an intermediate round of two pools of four, after which the top two of those reach the semi-finals. For France that means: beat Malaysia and steal at least a result against Belgium or Germany.

Scenario analysis: the road to the final

Three scenarios are taking shape. In the best case France pulls off an upset against Belgium or Germany, beats Malaysia and reaches the second round, where a side from pool A (featuring the Netherlands and Argentina, among others) awaits. More realistic is the middle scenario: beating Malaysia, but falling short against the two top sides and finishing third in the group with honour. In the bleakest case it ends in three defeats against a pool that was too high a reach, with the Pro League future proving to be the real gain of this cycle.

1. The penalty corner of Victor Charlet. As soon as France wins a penalty corner, all eyes turn to the captain at the top of the circle. Watch his deep knee bend and the angle of his shoulders: if they stay closed, a direct push into the corner almost always follows; if he opens them up at the last moment, watch for the runner at the right post for the deflection. At the Nations Cup Charlet was top scorer with eight goals, mostly from set pieces.

2. The pressure from the halfway line. When the opponent has the ball, France does not drop deep; instead the forwards form a tight line just in front of midfield. See how they squeeze off the pass into the centre and force the build-up to the sideline, where the French midfielder and back close down the ball carrier. This is the direct hand of Hertzberger.

3. Corentin Saunier in the French goal. The best goalkeeper of the 2025 Euros can keep a match alive all on his own. When France falls behind or the opponent takes control, watch his saves; in 2025 they were repeatedly the difference.

4. The direct transition. France does not calmly knock the ball around at the back. After winning possession, watch for the fast, hard passes of fifteen to twenty metres straight into the circle, with attackers immediately turning onto their forehand. This is the transition philosophy that Soyez introduced and Hertzberger sharpened.

5. France against Belgium. The match with the most layers of the entire tournament: head coach Dohmen against his own country, on Belgian soil, with a French side deliberately built on the Belgian model. Watch the emotion on the touchline.

6. The talent Malo Martinache. The eighteen-year-old right back has been named best young player twice in a row. Watch his calm on the ball and his build-up from the back; he is the face of the next French generation.

7. The finisher Timothée Clément. France sometimes lacks return in the circle, but Clément is the player who does put it away, like his winning goal two seconds before time against England at the 2025 Euros. Watch his timing in tight spaces.

8. The high-pushing backs. During the French build-up, watch the outside defenders. Instead of staying back, they push high and wide, almost up against the sideline. That stretches the pitch, pulls the opponent apart and opens the centre for the midfielders. It is the patient, wide build-up pattern of Sala, and the tipping point at which France decides to accelerate.

9. The penalty corner duel France-Germany. Should France meet Germany, watch the duel of the drag flickers: Charlet against the German specialist Gonzalo Peillat, top scorer of the 2025 Euros. At that same Euros France lost narrowly 3-2 to Germany; set pieces can decide a match like that.

On Sunday 30 August the world title is decided in Wavre, and nobody expects France to be there. Three outcomes are conceivable. France could pull off a surprise, take down one of the top teams and reach a knockout stage for the first time since 2018. It could bow out honourably in the pool, with a win over Malaysia and headaches for Belgium or Germany. Or it gets stuck against too tough a draw, and the pool proves a size too big.

But even that last scenario would not spoil the balance of this cycle. A team that left its own Olympic tournament without a point in 2024 stands two years later as Nations Cup winner in the Pro League and plays a World Cup with the freedom of a team that has nothing to lose. Whether the pupil already overtakes the master at this World Cup is doubtful; that he is moving in that direction, with a sixth of the budget and a night bus as a symbol, is the real story of Les Bleus in 2026.

Official sources

• International Hockey Federation (FIH) - rankings, World Cup 2026, Nations Cup, qualification.
• Fédération Française de Hockey (FFH) - selection, staff, match reports.
• European Hockey Federation - EuroHockey 2025.
• Olympics.com - World Cup draw and Paris 2024.

French and Belgian French-language media

• L'Equipe - national sports daily.
• La Voix du Nord - regional quality press of the Hauts-de-France.
• equipedefrance.com - player profiles.
• Hockey Magazine - specialised hockey press.
• hockey.nl - Dutch-language hockey press, with in-depth interviews on Hertzberger.