Remembering France’s Iconic 1998 World Cup Kit

TL;DR

• France beat Brazil 3-0 at the Stade de France on 12 July 1998 in an Adidas home shirt: royal blue, ribbed white V-neck, one red chest band above three thin white stripes.
• The crest worn in that final has no star. The star only appeared in the Euro 2000 qualifier away to Iceland, two matches later — so a starless cockerel is the mark of a tournament-correct 1998 shirt.
• France also used a white change shirt at the tournament, and a blue-blue-red mix in the semi-final, which is why “the 1998 France shirt” is really three different kit combinations.

Why is the France 1998 home shirt so well remembered?

Because it is the shirt of a home World Cup won by three clear goals, and because the design got out of the way of the occasion. On 12 July 1998 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France beat Brazil 3-0 in front of 80,000 people, per the match record. Zinedine Zidane headed in on 27 minutes and again in first-half stoppage time; Emmanuel Petit added a third in the third minute of stoppage time at the end. Marcel Desailly was sent off on 68 minutes for a second yellow card, so Aimé Jacquet’s side saw out the last twenty minutes with ten men. Said Belqola of Morocco refereed.

Adidas had dressed France since 1972, and the partnership ran until January 2011. Every one of France’s first three major trophies — Euro 1984 at home, the 1998 World Cup at home, Euro 2000 — was won in Adidas. The 1998 shirt sits in the middle of that run, and Museum of Jerseys traces its chest striping back to the 1984 side, which is a neat piece of continuity: one home tournament won, referenced on the shirt of the next one.

What did the France 1998 home shirt actually look like?

Royal blue body. A ribbed white V-neck collar trimmed in red and blue. A single broad red band across the chest, with three narrower white stripes stacked underneath it. Adidas three stripes down the sleeves in white with red edging, the Adidas wordmark centred on the chest, and the FFF cockerel on the left. Per Museum of Jerseys, the original was cut with raglan sleeves, the squad numbers on the back used the Adidas keyline-shadow font outlined in red, the France 98 tournament logo sat on the right breast, and Adidas sold the template through the 1998-99 teamwear range under the name Vitesse — French for speed.

Why does the 1998 France shirt have no star?

This is the detail that separates a tournament-correct shirt from a later one, and it trips up plenty of buyers. France could not wear a star at France 98 because they had not yet won anything to put one there for. The star was not added immediately after the final either: the next match was a friendly against Austria, and it was only in the match after that, a European Championship qualifier away to Iceland, that a star appeared above the FFF cockerel.

So the rule is simple. If a shirt sold as the 1998 World Cup shirt carries a star above the cockerel, it is following the shirt France wore after the tournament, not the one they won it in. A starless crest is the correct spec for the final itself.

The detail on our reissue: a matchday embroidery

Handling our own stock, the France 1998 home retro shirt gets the crest right — the cockerel is starless — and it goes one step further than most reissues we see. Directly beneath the crest, on the units we have inspected, there is a small embroidered box reading BRÉSIL – FRANCE 12·7·98. The same shirts carry red keyline piping running out from the collar over each shoulder, which is easy to miss in catalogue photography and is one of the details a flatter reissue tends to drop.

That is a matchday patch, and it narrows what the shirt is. It is not a generic 1998-season France shirt; it is specced as the shirt from one fixture, the final. Worth knowing before you buy: if you wanted a neutral 1998 shirt to wear casually, that embroidery commits you to a date. If you wanted the final, it is exactly the marker you would be looking for.

France did not only wear blue at France 98

Talking about “the France 1998 shirt” flattens three different kit combinations into one. The blue home shirt is the famous one, but France’s white change shirt made its tournament debut in the quarter-final against Italy, the tie settled on penalties. In the semi-final against Croatia they went out in a mix: blue shirts, blue shorts and red socks, rather than the standard blue-white-red.

If you are collecting the tournament rather than the final, the France 1998 away shirt is the one most people forget, and there is a 1998 away kids kit with shirt and shorts together. For the eras either side, we stock the 1994 away shirt from the campaign France failed to qualify from, and the 2006 home shirt from Zidane’s last tournament.

France 1998 World Cup kit: common questions

What shirt did France wear in the 1998 World Cup final?
The Adidas home shirt: royal blue with a ribbed white V-neck, one broad red band across the chest above three thin white stripes, and the FFF cockerel with no star. France beat Brazil 3-0 in it on 12 July 1998.

Does the France 1998 shirt have a star above the crest?
No. France had not won a World Cup before 1998, so the tournament shirt carried a starless cockerel. The star first appeared two matches after the final, in the Euro 2000 qualifier away to Iceland.

Who made the France 1998 World Cup kit?
Adidas, who supplied France from 1972 until January 2011. The 1998-99 template was sold as teamwear under the name Vitesse.

Who scored in the 1998 World Cup final?
Zinedine Zidane scored twice, on 27 minutes and in first-half stoppage time, and Emmanuel Petit made it 3-0 in stoppage time at the end. Marcel Desailly was sent off for France on 68 minutes.

Where can I buy a France 1998 retro shirt?
433FC stocks the 1998 home and away shirts from $39.99 and a 1998 away kids kit from $34.99 — prices correct at the time of writing, July 2026 — alongside a wider France range, with worldwide shipping.

Related reading

• Remembering the iconic Croatia 1998 World Cup kit — the side France beat in the semi-final
• Remembering the iconic West Germany 1990 World Cup kit
• Most iconic retro football kits: the definitive list
• Authentic vs replica football shirts: what actually differs