The team may play matches held before World Cups or other tournaments to give second-choice players, injured players or possible choices an opportunity to play a full game to either keep their fitness levels up or to earn their way into the first team.

[1] In the following year, France B participated in the 1953–58 Mediterranean Cup, where they faced the A teams of Turkey, Egypt and Greece home and away, as well as the B teams of Italy and Spain, and France started the tournament with three consecutive 0–0 draws before losing 0–2 to Spain B, and their inability to score goals stayed on as they then beat Greece 1–0 only thanks to an own goal, but despite their failure to score a single goal in 5 games, France regained his feet and still managed to finish the tournament in second-place with 12 points, finishing with 4 wins, 4 draws and 2 defeats, with their best victory coming against Egypt (7-1) in Nice on 15 April 1955.

[6] After 1968, the use by French coaches of this selection became rarer: between 1971 and 1982, only eight matches took place and then the B side became inactive.

The most recent match of France B was on 5 February 2008 against Congo DR in Marbella, the day before the regular A-team friendly in Málaga.

The team line-up was Steve Mandanda (Hugo Lloris 46'); Gaël Clichy, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Philippe Mexès, Bacary Sagna; Jérôme Rothen, Alou Diarra, Samir Nasri (Gaël Givet 76'), Mathieu Flamini (Jérémy Menez 17'), Jimmy Briand; Djibril Cissé; team members Sébastien Squillaci and Abou Diaby were not used.