The 2020 European Championship kick off in less than a month (June 11) — after a delay of a year thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic — and teams have until June 1st to announce their 26-man squads (expanded from 23). But some are wasting no time and are already confirming final squads for the tournament. (Most others are announcing preliminary squads or doing nothing at all until closer to the deadline.)
One of those teams wasting no time are defending finalists France, who announced their final 26 yesterday. Including among them were all three Chelsea first-teamers, N’Golo Kanté, Kurt Zouma, and Olivier Giroud.
There’s little doubt about NG’s credentials and while Zouma is not currently first-choice, he’s had a very good season overall as well. Same can’t be said about Giroud, but France manager Didier Deschamps absolutely loves him, so the veteran still gets the call.
Intriguingly, Deschamps also decided to call up Karim Benzema, ending the Real Madrid striker’s five-year absence! Giroud and Benzema don’t seem to get along very well, so good luck to Deschamps for managing that situation.
France’s absolutely stacked Euro 2020 squad, in full, is as follows:
GOALKEEPERS: Hugo Lloris (Spurs), Mike Maignan (Lille), Steve Mandanda (Marseille)
DEFENDERS: Lucas Digne (Everton), Léo Dubois (Lyon), Lucas Hernández (Bayern), Presnel Kimpembe (PSG), Jules Koundé (Sevilla), Clément Lenglet (Barcelona), Benjamin Pavard (Bayern), Raphaël Varane (Real Madrid), KURT ZOUMA (Chelsea)
MIDFIELDERS: N’GOLO KANTÉ (Chelsea), Thomas Lemar (Atlético Madrid), Paul Pogba (Man Utd), Adrien Rabiot (Juventus), Moussa Sissoko (Spurs), Corentin Tolisso (Bayern)
ATTACKERS: Wissam Ben Yedder (Monaco), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Kingsley Coman (Bayern), Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona), OLIVIER GIROUD (Chelsea), Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona), Kylian Mbappé (PSG), Marcus Thuram (Gladbach)