At its shortest distance, the English Channel separates England and France by 21 miles, but their soccer cultures are worlds apart.
While attendance at French games has improved dramatically since the 1998 World Cup, the Ligue 1's average of 19,805 fans a game in 2002-03 was almost half the Premier League's.
French players complain that fans at home begrudge their big salaries; they marvel at the passion and loyalty of English fans.
Arsenal star Robert Pires tells the story of the time he went to a London-area bookstore to promote his book Footballeur. He figured the book-signing would take an hour or so; he was there until after midnight to accommodate everyone seeking an autographed copy.
Nicolas Anelka, who has played for Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City since first moving to England in 1997, has the reputation of being surly, but he says he loves everything about English soccer.
''This country and this league are made for me,'' he says.
Even if that means missing holidays with family and friends to play on Boxing Day (Dec. 26) and New Year's Day?
''I'd be an ingrate to complain about playing during the holidays,'' he says.
Pires and Anelka were among the 44 French players on Premier League rosters last season, making them easily the largest foreign legion in the English game.
A decade earlier, there was but one Frenchie, and he almost didn't make the cut. Eric Cantona, ''retired'' from soccer in 1991 after one of his many run-ins with French soccer authorities, was persuaded to attempt a comeback at Sheffield Wednesday. In one of the great misjudgments in English managerial history, Wednesday manager Trevor Francis refused to sign Cantona without a tryout. Cantona looked elsewhere. The Frenchman, who starred at Leeds and Manchester United, charmed fans with his skill and theatrics. And they responded with chants of ''Ooh! Ah! Cantona!''
Such was Cantona's popularity that he came back from a nine-month ban for attacking a Crystal Palace fan to win the English Player of the Year award in 1996.
The French invasion began after the 1995 Bosman Ruling, which allowed the free movement of players between European Union countries.
The turning point was Arsenal's signing of Frenchman Arsene Wenger as manager in 1996. Wenger soon began importing young French players. Patrick Vieira, then 21, and Anelka, a teenager at the time, were instrumental in the Gunners' 1998 league title. Thierry Henry and Pires – winners of the last two English Player of the Year awards – later followed.
The new money that began flowing into English soccer allowed Premier League clubs to go on a shopping spree for French stars. Of the 22 players on France's 1998 World Cup championship team, 14 have played in England.
French players have brought not only flair but athleticism to the fast-paced English game. The trend is to snap up young Frenchmen – not to mention young Africans raised in French youth systems.
Manchester United's first signings of this offseason were a pair of French-bred players: 20-year-old French striker David Bellion and 22-year-old Cameroonian midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba. Liverpool has brought in Florent Sinama Pongolle and Anthony Le Tallac, cousins who led France to the 2001 Under-17 World Cup title. That 18-year-old defender Gael Clichy, Arsenal's summer signing from Cannes, was playing Third Division soccer is indicative of the depths Premier League clubs will go to seek out French players.
The English, the last in Europe to embrace French players, have fallen in love with them. The feeling, it seems, is mutual.
by Soccer America Managing Editor Paul Kennedy