France's 3-1 victory over Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final on home soil stands as the defining chapter in Les Bleus' footballing history — and Youri Djorkaeff believes a single, instinctive decision he made that evening was central to shaping it.

A united dressing room built on hard lessons

Djorkaeff, who starred for Monaco, Inter, and Bolton during his club career, says France's triumph did not arrive overnight. The squad had endured public criticism aimed at the federation, coach Aime Jacquet, and several players, and responded by turning inward.

"We told ourselves we'd build something of our own — if we failed, it would be our responsibility; if we won, it would be our success," Djorkaeff told FourFourTwo. "We wanted to do something historic."

The squad stopped reading newspapers and cut off contact with the media entirely, channelling all energy into their football. A painful penalty defeat to the Czech Republic at Euro 1996 had left scars, but the group used it as motivation. "We weren't ready to win then, but we prepared properly for the World Cup," he said.

A pivotal moment in that preparation came during Christmas 1997, when the federation organised a team trip to the Alps. Djorkaeff initially refused, telling Jacquet he wanted to spend his limited holiday time with his family. The coach insisted — and within an hour, Djorkaeff understood why. "That trip was the beginning of our success in 1998," he said.

The corner that changed history

The most consequential moment of the final itself arrived in first-half stoppage time. France, already leading 1-0, were awarded a corner — and Djorkaeff made a call that would prove decisive.

"I never took corners for France," he explained. "On the left it was Emmanuel Petit, on the right it was Zinedine Zidane. After Zinedine got the first goal with a header, there was a second corner that was supposed to be his as well."

Djorkaeff intervened. He told Zidane to stay in the box and took the corner himself. Zidane met the delivery with a powerful header to make it 2-0, his second of the night — a lead France never surrendered on their way to a 3-1 win and their first-ever World Cup title.

"I took responsibility, I had the trust of my team-mates and the coach. It turned out to be a good decision — sometimes in life, you just have to act without overthinking it," Djorkaeff said. "The parade on the Champs-Élysées after was madness."

His father Jean, himself a France international with 48 caps, was a constant presence throughout Djorkaeff's career, yet offered no special counsel ahead of the final. "He didn't give me any advice because he knew we were ready for that challenge," Djorkaeff said.