STUTTGART, Jun 12 (SW) - Yet another former World Champion is set to make its appearance at the 2006 World Cup, as France face Switzerland in their opening match.

This tournament is going to be the last ever for the already legendary Zinedine Zidane, who scored twice in the 1998 final against Brazil.

Zidane and his teammates were less sucessful in 2002, being thrown out of the group phase with zero goals scored. It's time to take revenge, and if it's up to Les Bleus, Switzerland will be their first victims.

Striker David Trezeguet will not be starting, and is probably replaced with Frank Ribery

The Swiss have been surprisingly strong in qualification, where they shared a group with France and drew in both meetings.

Switzerland will be without the injured defender Patrick Muller, and Johan Djourou is expected to form part of the starting line-up.

Facts:

The French are about to start their twelfth World Cup, against eight for Switzerland. In the past, the French have been considerably more successful, with their 1998 victory as highlight.

The Swiss reached the quarter finals in three occasions, but the last time was when they hosted the tournament in 1954.

Their last World Cup appearance was in 1994, where they drew with hosts USA, beat Romania and lost to Colombia, before being thumped 3-0 by Spain in the round of sixteen.

Head to head:

As neighbours, these two teams have met quite a few times before, 35 to be precise. In fifteen occasions, France were the better side and Switzerland won twelve times. One of France's victories was at Euro 2004, where the Swiss were beaten 3-1 in the group phase.

Probable line-ups:

France: Fabien Barthez; Willy Sagnol, Lilian Thuram, William Gallas, Eric Abidal; Patrick Vieira, Claude Makelele; Franck Ribery, Zinedine Zidane, Sylvain Wiltord; Thierry Henry.

Switzerland: Pascal Zuberbuehler; Ludovic Magnin, Philippe Senderos, Patrick Mueller, Philipp Degen; Raphael Wicky, Johann Vogel, Daniel Gygax, Ricardo Cabanas, Tranquillo Barnetta; Alex Frei.

Location: Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart

Time: 18:00 (6:00pm) CET

Referee: Valentin Ivanov (RUS)