PARIS, May 25 (Reuters) - France will be missing for the first time in 28 years from their Toulon youth tournament which was kicking off on Thursday.

More than half of France's 1998 World Cup winning squad won their first international spurs at the annual end-of-season under-21 tournament, a regular fixture on the calendar.

So did some of the biggest names in the international game, such as Daniel Pasarella, Hristo Stoichkov, Ronald Koeman, Hugo Sanchez, Paul Gascoigne, Leonardo, Cafu, Jorge Valdano and David Beckham.

But France failed to qualify for the later stages of the current European under-21 championship, having been knocked out by Italy, so the current team has nothing immediate for which to prepare.

Colombia, who beat Argentina on penalties in the 1999 final, are defending their Toulon title.

Regular participants Mexico and Portugal, Italy who are back for the first time since 1987, and 1998 European under-18 champions Ireland are also taking part.