International Career
Although Ginola was a very prominent French player, he did not see much action with the French national team, having been capped only 17 times in his career.
Ginola is famous in France for a mistake in a World Cup qualifying game against Bulgaria. France needed only a draw from their final qualifying group game on November 17, 1993 to qualify for the finals of the 1994 FIFA World Cup. With the match level at 1–1 in the last minute, Ginola overhit a cross and Bulgaria subsequently counter-attacked and scored through Emil Kostadinov, winning the game 2–1 and enabling Bulgaria to qualify for the finals at the expense of France.
The French manager Gérard Houllier blamed the entire defeat on Ginola, and he was subsequently called the assassin of French football by the media. After being barracked by French fans, Ginola moved to England, signing for Newcastle United. Houllier's successor Aimé Jacquet regularly selected Ginola for international matches, but often used him only as a substitute. Ginola played his last match for the national team in 1995.
Read more about this topic: David Ginola
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