Is there a “curse of world champions” and should France be afraid of it at the 2022 World Cup

In football, as in life, there are enough superstitions. Some of them are invisible, such as always lacing boots with the same foot. And others even went down in history – like a kiss from Laurent Blanc to bald head Fabien Barthez before the start of the games of the French team at the 1998 World Cup.

Another superstition associated with the World Cup is the “curse of the world champion”. We will tell you more about it in our note. And find out 2022 World Cup predictionsmade not on superstition, but with the help of analytics, you can visit the Legalbet website.

What is the champion’s curse?

The “curse” appeared in 2002. Its essence is this – the European team, which became the winner of the World Cup, takes off at the next tournament in the group stage. Latin American teams have not yet been affected by this phenomenon: in 2002, the World Cup was won by Brazil, which in 2006 overcame the group stage and reached the quarterfinals.

The first victims of the “curse” were the French. Taking the trophy in 1998, at the next World Cup in the group with Uruguay, Denmark and Senegal, they scored only one point. Then it was written off as banal bad luck and an excellent game from the Danes and Senegalese.

The next “victim” had to wait eight years. The victors of the 2006 World Cup in the face of the Italian team in 2010 failed the group stage, earning only two points in the group with Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand.

Further failure awaited the Spaniards. At the 2014 World Cup, they outplayed Australia in the group, but lost to both the Netherlands and Chile.

The last on the list of “curses” are the Germans, who in 2018 lost to South Korea and Mexico, thereby depriving themselves of the chances for ⅛ finals.

Will it last

The next potential “victim” is again the French team. And this scenario is real.

So, it has already been officially confirmed that Paul Pogba and Ngolo Kante, the main central midfielders of the team, will not go to Qatar due to injuries. Paul had a chance to go to this World Cup, but the wrong treatment and an unsuccessful joint in training delayed his recovery until the end of the calendar year. Ngolo suffered with a hip all season and hoped to make it to the World Cup. However, according to doctors, the situation got worse, and they decided not to postpone the operation, which put an end to the player’s participation in the tournament.

The shape of the French in recent tournaments is also in question. If relegation to the ⅛ final of the European Championship can be attributed to bad luck, then the failure in the last League of Nations (3rd place in the group) and a weak game in the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup (one of the lowest performance among the leaders) inspires concern.

It’s not worth writing off all this as a “curse”. In addition, the composition of France at this World Cup still looks menacing: the country will be represented by Mbappe, Benzema, Lloris, Griezmann, Varane and many others. Yes, and experts see the French among the favorites of the tournament.

In the group stage, the team will play with Denmark, Australia and Tunisia. In fact, only the Danes can deliver France’s problems here. But if suddenly something goes wrong, superstitious people will know why.