Claude Makélélé
France struggled in the qualifiers, even though the team was seeded in a group that included the relatively unheralded teams of Israel and Switzerland. Domenech persuaded Claude Makélélé, Lilian Thuram and Zidane, members of France's "golden generation," out of international retirement to aid the national team, which was struggling in qualification. On the final day of fixtures, France qualified automatically with a 4–0 home win over Cyprus.