Socceroos to face Les Bleus

The Socceroos will take on “Les Bleus” in an international friendly match at the Parc de Princes, Paris on Friday 11 October 2013.

Football Federation Australia and the Fédération Française de Football (FFF) today announced that the Socceroos will meet the French Men-s National Football team, “Les Bleus”, in an international friendly match at the Parc de Princes, Paris on Friday 11 October 2013 (kick-off at 9:00pm CEST (6:00am AEDT).

Socceroos Head Coach Holger Osieck is looking to use this match as another key part of the preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

“We need to play top quality international opponents as we have to get challenged on this level,” said Osieck.

“This will be another great experience for our team and myself, as it gives me a good indication where we stand right now compared to the top countries in the world and what our focus has to be to raise our standard,” concluded Osieck.

The Socceroos are currently ranked 46th in the FIFA World Rankings whilst France are currently 23rd (as of 8 August 2013).

This will be the fourth match between France and Australia at senior men-s international level and the first on French soil. In the three previous meetings there has been a win for each team and a draw.

The match between the Socceroos and France will be broadcast live and exclusive on Fox Sports.

Match Details:

France v Socceroos Friday 11 October 2013 Parc de Princes, Paris, France Kick-off: 9.00pm CEST (6:00am AEDT)

Current FIFA World Rankings (as at 8 August 2013) France - 23rd Australia - 46th

Results between Australia and France:

P3: W1-D1-L1

Date Home Team Result Away Team Venue Match Type 26/05/1994 France 1:0 (1:0) Australia Kobe, Japan Friendly Match - Kirin Cup 01/06/2001 Australia 1:0 (0:0) France Daegu, Korea Republic FIFA Confederations Cup 11/11/2001 Australia 1:1 (1:0) France Melbourne, Australia Friendly Match

Last Match Details:

Australia 1 (Craig Moore 43-) France 1 (David Trezeguet 49-) 11 November 2001 Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Referee: Simon Micallef (AUS) Crowd: 53,173

Australia line-up: Mark Schwarzer (gk), Shaun Murphy, Craig Moore, Kevin Muscat (John Aloisi 58-), Tony Vidmar, Brett Emerton, Josip Skoko (Marco Bresciano 73-), Paul Okon (c), Stan Lazaridis, Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka

Substitutes Not Used: Zeljko Kalac (gk), Steve Horvat, Tony Popovic, Steve Corica, Lucas Neill, Mile Sterjovski, Danny Tiatto, Paul Agostino, David Zdrilic

Yellow Cards:

Coach: Frank Farina (Australia)

France line-up: Fabien Barthez (gk), Christian Karembeu, Franck Leboeuf, Marcel Desailly (Mikael Silvestre 83-), Christophe Dugarry (Sylvain Wiltord 58-), Vincent Candela , Claude Makelele (Eric Carriere 65-), Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira, David Trezeguet (Nicholas Anelka 65-), Zinedine Zidane (Alain Boghossian 80-)

Substitutes Not Used: Ulrich Rame (gk), Gregory Coupet (gk), Philippe Christanval, Lilian Thuram

Yellow Cards:

Coach: Roger Lemerre (France)