champions Spain. Following the tournament, coach Laurent Blanc resigned and was succeeded by Didier Deschamps, who captained France to glory in the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. His team qualified for the 2014 World Cup by beating Ukraine in the playoffs, and Deschamps then extended his contract until Euro 2016. Missing star midfielder Franck Ribéry through injury, France lost to eventual champions Germany in the quarter-finals courtesy of an early goal by Mats Hummels. Paul Pogba was awarded the Best Young Player award during the tournament. Current France (2016–present) France automatically qualified as hosts for Euro 2016. Karim Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa were not in the squad. France were drawn in Group A of the tournament alongside Romania, Switzerland and Albania. France won their group with wins over Romania and Albania and a goalless draw against Switzerland and were poised to play the Republic of Ireland in the round of sixteen. Ireland took the lead after just two minutes through a controversially awarded penalty, which was converted by Robbie Brady. A brace from Antoine Griezmann, however, helped France to win the match 2–1 and qualify for the quarter-finals, where they beat a resilient Iceland 5–2 to set up a semi-final clash against world champions and tournament co-favourites Germany. France won the match 2–0, marking their first win over Germany at a major tournament since 1958. France, however, were beaten by Portugal 1–0 in the final courtesy of an extra-time goal by Eder. Griezmann was named the Player of the Tournament and was also awarded the Golden Boot in addition to being named in the Team of the Tournament, alongside Dimitri Payet. The defeat meant that France became the second nation to have lost the final on home soil, after Portugal lost the final to Greece in 2004. In 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying, France topped their group with 23 points; winning 7 wins, drawing 2 and losing once, although their two draws were against considerably weaker nations, drawing 0–0 with Belarus in their opening match and against Luxembourg, failing to secure a win against the latter for the first time since 1914, nearly 103 years. Their only defeat of the qualifying phase was against Sweden; losing 2–1 in the last few minutes following an error from goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. France secured qualification to the World Cup finals with a 2–1 win over Belarus after defeating the Netherlands 4–0