In 2013, under oath before the French Senate, the then Minister of Sports, Marie-George Buffet, assured that anti-doping controls on the national team had never been halted.
But in 2026, in front of the cameras for a documentary about Zidane, she changed the story completely. It all began in 1997, at a training camp in Tignes, when a surprise test produced negative results.
However, it generated enormous anger within the squad and from Aimé Jacquet. According to doctor Alain Garnier, who was in charge of those controls, the order came later and was verbal: do not bother the team again until the 1998 World Cup.
In the end, France went on to lift the trophy after defeating Brazil 3-0 at the Stade de France. Buffet now calls it “a step backward” in the fight against doping. There is no evidence of irregularities among the players, but the revelation reopens a question that had lain dormant for nearly 30 years.