Following Brazil's quarter-final exit in 2006 after holding the previous World Cup title, succeeding winners Italy, Spain and Germany all bowed out in the group stage of the tournament following their 2006, 2010 and 2014 World Cup victories, respectively.
With history far from being on their side and in the midst of an ongoing nightmare lead-up to the 2022 finals, there are a host of reasons why France could continue to carry the burden of the winners' curse with them to Qatar.
Les Blues' 2-0 loss to Denmark on Monday morning (AEST) epitomised an utterly disappointing UEFA Nations League campaign for a side who won the tournament just 10 months prior. The French outfit, who lacked defensive stability and the pace to keep up with Denmark's attack, closed out their 2022-23 campaign third in the group and only narrowly avoiding relegation, with their 2-0 victory over group cellar-dwellers Austria being their only win from the six-match campaign.
However, the French outfit's problems haven't been confined to a run of underwhelming results since the June start of Nations League, with an endless stream of off-field dramas dominating the headlines and arguably overshadowing their poor form of late.
A feud between attackers Kylian Mbappe and Olivier Giroud, which went public in June 2021, appears to have been defused after the 23-year-old Paris Saint Germain player praised Giroud for allowing him the creative 'freedom' to make an impact during their win against Austria.
However, the comments could serve to create a severe and unwanted selection headache for Didier Deschamps come November, with Atletico Madrid star Antonine Greizman already playing in behind the strike duo and an injured Karim Benzema set to rejoin the squad.
Due to Deschamps' historically favoured 4-4-2 and 3-4-1-2 set-ups, the French boss is unlikely to play the three up front together, let alone four with Greizmann being the creative force in attacking midfield. Even dropping a 35-year-old Giroud to the bench in Qatar, which would seem the obvious choice to many, could backfire as the AC Milan talisman has far from lost his striker's touch over the calendar year.
Giroud scored his third goal from four international appearances in 2022 against Austria, en route to becoming the national team's oldest ever goalscorer at 35 years and 357 days old.
Meanwhile, Ballon d'Or favourite Benzema currently occupies only one space on a long line of injuries for the French outfit, with goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, defender Lucas Digne, Paul Pogba and Kingsley Coman being just a handful of players who were ruled out of their match-ups with Austria and Denmark in the recent international break.
While the depleted side should welcome most of these players back in time for their late November tournament opener against the Socceroos, unease amongst the French camp could continue to grow. Deschamps could struggle to supply enough game time to a host of returning world-class players in Qatar, and three key events have further distracted the reigning World Cup champions over the past six months.
Mbappe's feud with the French Football Federation (FFF) over image rights came to a head last week when the player boycotted a team photo shoot, with the striker defending the action as a "collective move" for teammates, citing his unhappiness with fast food chains and betting companies currently under contract with the national team.
Despite the 23-year-old eventually winning the dispute after threatening to boycott all future activities and photo shoots with national team sponsors, the FFF have had their own troubles sparked from within, amid 80-year-old president Noël Le Graët's refusal to step down over allegations of sending inappropriate text messages to female employees. His close friend, Deschamps, claimed in response that "the atmosphere is heavy" within the French camp.
However, perhaps the most shocking of all amidst the French team's unprecedented crisis was when two armed individuals allegedly demanded €13m from Juventus' Paul Pogba hours before a national team meeting in March. The group of five men responsible for the alleged extortion attempt included his brother Mathias and childhood friends of the star midfielder.
With Pogba currently under police protection in Italy as the investigation over the incident continues, the unwanted distraction as well as countless others to France's World Cup preparations have not only evidently put a dent on morale within the squad, but it is unlikely that new issues and egos will not rise to the fore once again when Deschamps finalises his selection of the French squad in the coming weeks.
While it is not an unfamiliar tale for a national team to have its fair share of drama, particularly in the lead-up to a tournament as revered as the World Cup, but the enormity of France's countless off-field issues have evidently spilled over onto the pitch. This is likely to leave many onlookers questioning whether the reigning champions can get it together in just five weeks time for the start of the 2022 tournament.
