In the past 20 years, the World Cup has been said to have a defending curse, as 4 out of the past 5 defending teams went out in the group stage. However, the last champion France has come out of the shadow of the curse this year, not only in the group stage, but also in the group stage.
beyond the pale
They have already made it to the last 8 of the World Cup and are aiming to defend the World Cup for the first time in the last 60 years since Brazil in 1962.
It was France who started the curse of World Cup defense. They won the title in 1998 but exited in the group stage 4 years later, which was a big shocker, followed by Italy, Spain, and Germany who were also struck by the same curse, and only Brazil was able to get out of the group stage of the past 5 defending teams, but they were eliminated in the round of 8.
France's standard is stable this year, and after the first two rounds of the group stage, they have won the first round of the tournament.
beyond the pale
right to be the first to avoid the embarrassing situation of being out of the group stage.
semifinals
By eliminating Poland again, they are at least on par with Brazil in 2006, and have made it to the last 8 as the reigning champions, so it seems that the curse has vanished. France will meet England in the last 8. The last time they met was in a warm-up match in 2017, France won 3-2.
In the history of the World Cup, only Italy (1934 and 38) and Brazil (1958 and 62) have ever defended the title, but whether France can go one step further and become the third team to win back-to-back championships is something that we will have to wait and see.
Results of the last 5 defending World Cup teams
1998 Champions France 2002 Group stage exit
2002 Champions Brazil 2006 Elite 8 Exit
2006 Champions Italy 2010 Group stage exit
2010 Champions Spain 2014 Group stage exit
2014 champions Germany 2018 group stage exit
