The former Arsenal striker turned out for France when they hosted the tournament in 1998 and he admitted he didn’t quite realise how much being part of the squad would change his life.

He told FourFourTwo magazine: “In 1998, I was too young to understand what was happening.

“I was 20, in my backyard – I grew up 40 minutes from the Stade de France. Two or three years beforehand, I was going to play with France’s Under-17s, passing the stadium, looking at it being built and just hoping I’d have a ticket to see a game there.

“I was still so young in 1998 – I didn’t become a household name until after we won the tournament.

“We became a team who were going to be known forever, because we were the first team to win the World Cup for France.

“Guys like Fabien Barthez, Youri Djorkaeff and Zinedine Zidane went to another level.

“I was still the young guy, not realise what was happening – you win and you’re like, ‘Is this how it is usually?’

“You soon learn that’s not how it is!

“I knew we’d done something that was pretty amazing, but I didn’t see it like it changed my life at the time.”

From the highs of the World Cup win, the next tournament, in Korea and Japan in 2002, was frustrating for Thierry because he arrived in the squad with an injury and the side experienced an early exit.

He reflected: “If I think about 2002, it’s me being injured. That’s what stays in my head, because you can’t really help the team.

“I arrived there without training for three weeks; I played the first game against Senegal and I just wasn’t fit enough. Zidane was the same.

“I remember my injury and my red card against Uruguay.

“Being the best team in the world by a distance in 2002 and going out in the group stage? It was hard going back home in such a horrible way.”