France will not be a seeded team at Friday’s World Cup draw, setting up potential clashes with powerful teams like Brazil or Spain in the group stage.
Host South Africa will be seeded in Group A, allowing it to open the World Cup at Soccer City on June 11.
The other seeded teams - based on a mixture of current FIFA rankings and historical World Cup results - are Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina and England.
France won the World Cup in 1998 and was runner-up in 2006 but struggled to qualify for the 2010 event, prevailing in a contentious play-off against Ireland.