This heavyweight semi-final at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ comes with a distinctly French flavour. While it is no surprise to see the French champions field a clutch of national-team regulars, the same logic hardly applies to the Spanish giants.
Despite that, Real Madrid C. F. have a rich history of fielding French stars. From Raymond Kopa and Zinedine Zidane, to Karim Benzema and Raphael Varane – to name just a few – a host of France’s most iconic players have donned the famous white shirt of Los Merengues.
FIFA takes a closer look at the French internationals on both sides of the divide, as they square off to reach the Club World Cup final.
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Paris Saint-Germain
Ousmane Dembele | 56 caps, seven goals
Sidelined during the group stage due to injury, the winger-cum-striker is looking to embellish a stellar 2024-25 season in which he swept the board and netted 34 goals in 51 appearances across all competitions. A World Cup winner in 2018, Dembele would doubtless relish the chance to add the FIFA Club World Cup to his burgeoning list of accolades.
Lucas Hernandez | 39 caps, no goals
The defender is also looking to add to his trophy cabinet. Whether lining up on the left flank or as a centre-half, he brings steel and positional discipline to a rearguard that is notoriously difficult to breach and that has kept six clean sheets in the side’s last seven outings in all competitions. However, Hernandez – who also lifted football’s greatest prize in 2018 – will be absent in the clash against Los Blancos after seeing red in the quarter-finals.
Presnel Kimpembe | 28 caps, no goals
The third world champion in the PSG ranks, the centre-back is a one-club man. Having joined the Parisians’ youth academy at the age of ten, he has experienced it all with the capital club: from the euphoria of claiming 20 titles to the agony of a ruptured achilles tendon that kept him off the pitch for almost two years. Capping his comeback year with another global crown would be the perfect ending to his road to recovery.
Bradley Barcola | 14 caps, two goals
The fleet-footed winger was called up to the French squad just before UEFA EURO 2024, where Les Bleus met Spain in the semi-finals – a scenario reminiscent of this showdown. This time, he will be hoping for a better result, since Didier Deschamps’ men fell to a 2-1 defeat.
Warren Zaire-Emery | Seven caps, one goal
The midfielder sits firmly among the boy wonders. The youngest in the PSG side, he also became the youngest player to represent France since 1914 when he made his debut in a 14-0 thrashing of Gibraltar – and promptly marked the occasion by getting on the scoresheet.
Desire Doue | Three caps, no goals
The precocious forward has enjoyed a sensational 12 months. Last August, he claimed silver at the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Paris 2024, losing a 5-3 thriller in extra time to none other than Spain. Since then, he has earned his first senior cap and bagged a brace in the UEFA Champions League final. His opener in the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup set the tone for his side’s 2-0 victory over FC Bayern München.
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Real Madrid
Kylian Mbappe | 90 caps, 50 goals
The 2024-25 season saw Los Merengues add a French world champion to their ranks, and the striker has been in blistering form. His goal in the 3-2 quarter-final win over Borussia Dortmund was his 44th since the start of the 2024-25 campaign, which included strikes in the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Intercontinental Cup™ final to help his new side to two trophies. The Parisian backline – without the suspended Willian Pacho – may know all his tricks, but that does not mean they can stop him.
Aurelien Tchouameni | 41 caps, three goals
The former Bordeaux player is one of three Frenchmen in the Madridistas’ ranks who were runners-up at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. A mainstay for Les Bleus, he has occasionally been handed the captain’s armband by Didier Deschamps, but he will have his work cut out against PSG’s Iberian trio of Fabian Ruiz, Vitinha and Joao Neves.
Eduardo Camavinga | 26 caps, two goals
Another finalist in Qatar, the Stade Rennais-trained midfielder earned his first cap just shy of his 18th birthday. A brief return to the French U-21 team helped to sharpen his game, and he has since featured in every major continental and world campaign. Although the 2024-25 season was punctuated by a serious thigh injury, he is now back in training.
Ferland Mendy | ten caps, no goals
The French left-back has also endured a frustrating run with injuries. A thigh issue in March was compounded by a setback upon his return in April, keeping him from making the trip to the United States for the Club World Cup. Mendy joined Les Bleus after their triumphant 2018 campaign, but his international career has been curtailed by a succession of injuries. Nevertheless, the former Lyon man has made over 200 appearances for Real Madrid, so he will no doubt have some pearls of wisdom to offer his team-mates, even from afar.
