# France v Azerbaijan (UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying)

France v Azerbaijan, also known as the "Auxerre tragedy" in Azerbaijani media, was a football match belonging to the UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying that took place on 6 September 1995.
France won the game 10–0, and it went down as the largest victory in the history of the France national team until it was surpassed by a 14–0 win over Gibraltar in 2023. The match also became the biggest defeat of the Azerbaijan national team, a record that still stands today.

## Background

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Romania | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 6 | +9 | 18 |
| Poland | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 8 | +5 | 12 |
| France | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 11 |
| Slovakia | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 15 | −5 | 11 |
| Israel | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 9 |
| Azerbaijan | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 17 | −15 | 0 |
This would be the 8th match for both teams in the first group of the UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying. While Azerbaijan already lost its chance to participate in the tournament, France was still fighting for a ticket. Prior to the game, France's biggest victory was 8–0, twice over Luxembourg (20 April 1913 and 17 December 1953) and against Iceland (2 June 1957). Azerbaijan had suffered its biggest defeat (0–5) in a friendly match against Malta on 19 April 1994.
Azerbaijan did not start a true striker for the match, instead utilising captain Shahin Diniyev in a rudimentary attacking role, while the French XI was almost at their full strength.

## Match
### Details

| France | Azerbaijan |
| GK | 1 | Bernard Lama |
| RB | 2 | Jocelyn Angloma | 57' |
| CB | 4 | Marcel Desailly (c) |
| CB | 5 | Frank Leboeuf |
| LB | 3 | Bixente Lizarazu |
| CM | 7 | Didier Deschamps |
| CM | 8 | Vincent Guérin |
| RW | 6 | Youri Djorkaeff |
| AM | 10 | Zinedine Zidane |
| LW | 11 | Reynald Pedros | 65' |
| CF | 9 | Christophe Dugarry | 69' |
| Substitutes: ||
| DF | 12 | Éric Di Meco |
| DF | 13 | Lilian Thuram | 57' |
| FW | 14 | David Ginola | 65' |
| MF | 15 | Christophe Cocard | 69' |
| GK | 16 | Bruno Martini |
| Manager: ||
| Aimé Jacquet ||
| GK | 1 | Elkhan Hasanov | | 36' |
| RB | 3 | İqor Getman | 49' |
| CB | 4 | Tarlan Ahmadov |
| CB | 5 | Emin Ağayev |
| LB | 6 | Rasim Abushev |
| RM | 2 | Arif Asadov |
| CM | 11 | Vyacheslav Lychkin |
| CM | 10 | Mahmud Qurbanov | | 46' |
| CM | 7 | Yunis Huseynov |
| LM | 9 | Vladislav Kadyrov | | 74' |
| CF | 8 | Shahin Diniyev (c) |
| Substitutes: ||
| MF | 13 | Fazil Parvarov |
| FW | 14 | Mushfig Huseynov | | 74' |
| FW | 15 | Samir Alakbarov | | 46' |
| GK | 16 | Nizami Sadiqov | | 36' |
| MF | 17 | Bakhtiyar Musayev |
| Manager: ||
| Aghasalim Mirjavadov ||

## Post-match

After the game, France took second place with 14 points, ahead of Poland, while Azerbaijan remained in last with 8 losses. Head coach Aghasalim Mirjavadov resigned immediately after the defeat, citing the inability of the players, the low level of training and the opponents' strength as the reasons for the defeat.
Les Bleus would go on to finish second in their group and qualify for UEFA Euro 1996, where they reached the semi-finals. Nearly the same crop of players, including some notable names like Zinedine Zidane, Youri Djorkaeff and Bixente Lizarazu, would go on to win the 1998 FIFA World Cup on home soil.
In 2016, pastemagazine.com included the match in its list of Top 10 Biggest National Defeats.

### Final table

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Romania | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 6 | +9 | 18 |
| France | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 17 | 1 | +16 | 14 |
| Poland | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 8 | +5 | 12 |
| Slovakia | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 15 | −5 | 11 |
| Israel | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 9 |
| Azerbaijan | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 27 | −25 | 0 |