Also for the second consecutive year, this fixture sets a record for the largest crowd ever to see a regular-season league match in any French sport.

A method of fighting with the feet; an old French sport with some aspects of karate.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this has not been a golden period in French sports.

And the Russians have clearly taken to the French national sport of poking a stick in Washington's eye to assert independence.

"But I have great esteem for the man who brought honor to French sport and to France."

Very seldom in the history of French sport has a national team found itself under an almost moral obligation to win', said the same editorial.

A sense of disbelief swept across crowds of French sports fans who had always remained confident that they would win.

Agua (film), a 2006 Argentine and French sports drama film

And on the most important evening in the history of French sport, Zidane lived up to his number and his reputation.

His feat dominated the next day's editions of l'Equipe, the French sports daily.