In a Biarritz training camp, while France’s greatest footballing night unfolded on television, Florian Maurice found no room for celebration. More than 28 years after the 1998 World Cup final, the former Lyon, Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille forward has admitted how deeply his exclusion hurt.
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Maurice had appeared to be moving towards a place in Aimé Jacquet’s France squad after receiving his first international call-up in 1996 and taking part in the Tournoi de France the following year.
His transfer from Lyon to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 1997 seemed to strengthen that case. Maurice struck seven Ligue 1 goals in his first 12 matches for PSG, producing the kind of early-season form that made a home World Cup feel within reach.
But the momentum vanished. He did not score another league goal after the 12th round, and his hopes of joining France for the tournament on home soil disappeared with it.
France went on to beat Brazil 3-0 in the final at the Stade de France on 12 July 1998, securing the country’s first World Cup. Maurice, who had joined Marseille that summer after his season in Paris, was away with his new club in Biarritz.
He recalled watching the match from a room he believes he shared with Daniel Bravo, but said he could not fully back France because he was not part of the group. Having built his ambitions around reaching that tournament for around 18 months, he struggled with the thought that the team would lift the trophy without him.
Maurice said he did not want to pretend he had been a major France supporter in that moment. The disappointment, he explained, outweighed the national occasion.
His international story did continue after the World Cup. Roger Lemerre, who succeeded Jacquet, selected him for France’s next fixture, a 2-2 draw against Austria. Maurice added two more appearances, against Morocco in January 1999 and Croatia in November 1999.
He scored in the 1-0 victory over Croatia, his only France goal, and finished with six caps.
The feeling is not unique among players left outside a winning World Cup squad. Laurent Koscielny, ruled out of the 2018 tournament through injury, later said he was delighted for his teammates but also devastated by what he had missed. He admitted that part of him wanted France to qualify while another part hoped they would lose, before saying that, with time, he was happy for a united squad that had answered its critics.
