Somewhere, in the hidden depths of the Football Association's database, is an extensive study of the system that won France the World Cup.

Compiled by Howard Wilkinson, with assistance from Gerard Houllier and Aime Jacquet, it offers a unique insight into the culture of champions.

Detailed development plans encompass training methods, media management strategies, and educational principles. The blueprint blends sport with sociology, technical analysis with commonsense.

For all the impact it has made on Kevin Keegan and his dysfunctional collection of millionaire footballers, it could have concentrated on the destructive impact of locusts on maize fields in Mali. In international terms, England remains an island of institutionalised ignorance.

France are, in the opinion of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger 'five to 10 years ahead' of the rest of the world. Few expect that inside knowledge to be defied here this evening when the French play Spain in the most attractive quarter-final of Euro 2000.

Les Bleus borrow team-building policies from the All Blacks. Like the best NBA basketball teams, they have a distinctive human chemistry, a multi-cultural mix. Football is a cross between an art form and a science.

The French are happy for their stars to refine their natural talents in exile - none of Roger Lemerre's starting side operates in the domestic league - but protect their young with a vixen's tenacity. The longevity of the empire established on home soil at France 98 seems assured.

'I can definitely feel an impulse,' said Lemerre, in an instinctive departure from a scholarly appraisal of his side's potential. There is something happening in this team. Some young players are confirming their talent. Others look like they are about to do it. The nation is with us, trusts us. Everything is going according to plan.'

Listen to Keegan's dinosaurs, on the rare occasions they deign to submit themselves to outside scrutiny, and they invest football with a bewildering sense of joylessness. It is all dosh and dash, cash and bash.

Their French counterparts talk about the game with a contrasting sensitivity and lyricism. This finds an echo in their freedom of move-ment and intelligent application of effort.

'I enjoy the dance of the game,' explained Christophe Dugarry, the shaggy-haired striker whose versatility allows him to slip effortlessly into a wing-back role when required.

'For us football is not purely physical, as it is in England. There must be organisation, but that is nothing without fantasy.'

Bixente Lizarazu, the Basque fullback who has recovered from a thigh injury sustained in the warmup before the win over the Czech Republic, is similarly smitten.

'Playing in this tournament is like exploring a beautiful mansion,' he said. 'Every match is like opening a door into a new room. We can do something big, something special, in the next 10 days.

'No reigning World Cup winners have become European champions. Even though history is not so important for us, we appreciate the drama of it.'

The squad thrives on mutual respect. Lemerre employs the mentoring system developed by the All Blacks, in which young players are assigned to more experienced teammates.

'I feel my status is changing,' said Patrick Vieira, who celebrated his 24th birthday on Friday. 'I notice by the way the older players look at me. They can tell me something with a glance.

'It is very subtle. It makes me think I have changed in their eyes. I have been accepted as a full member of the team. I am not just a young lad, aiming to learn.

'I feel better with every match. People have more confidence in me. They give me more of the ball. This encourages me to try things, without the worry of criticism.'

The Arsenal midfield player, one of eight squad members with Premiership experience, accepts he is a symbol of a flawed English system. 'Foreign players are not giving young English players a chance,' he acknowledged.

'That is not good for your future. In France it is different. There are three or four young French players in every team.'

Wenger digs deeper and has a dossier on the best young French players aged between 12 and 17. He covets Marseille winger Robert Pires, but his capture of Jeremie Aliadiere, on a seven-year £1.2million contract before his 16th birthday, is more significant.

Nicolas Anelka, the striker Wenger spirited away from Paris St Germain, remains the prize product of the French national school, at Claire-fontaine outside the capital. Set up by Houllier, this is supported by six regional academies.

Clubs, limited to 21 senior professionals, are complementary centres of excellence. Nantes nurtured Didier Deschamps, Marcel Desailly and Christian Karembeu. Monaco produced Manu Petit, Thierry Henry and Lilian Thuram. Zinedine Zidane and Johan Micoud, a revelation as his Euro 2000 understudy, came through at Cannes.

Cultures are allowed to cross-fertilise. Vieira, from Senegal, and Desailly, from Ghana, are products of West African street football. Zidane, from an Algerian family, and Youri Djorkaeff, of Eastern European descent, have the work ethic of refugees. Thuram, Henry and Anelka, from Guadeloupe and the Antilles, have a Caribbean penchant for athletic self-expression.

'We cherish the football,' explained Thuram, who is a shrewd, socially aware, figure. 'It is a source of our strength and our joy. Why give that away easily?'

The system breeds distinctive characters. Thuram toyed with the priesthood and has a Marxist's distaste for the marriage between clubs and commercialism. Lizarazu candidly admits he failed at Athletic Bilbao because he is not obsessional about the game.

'What I found particularly hard to bear was that everything revolved around football,' he said. 'They just can't leave it alone.'

He views the game in a global context and refuses to read too much into the renaissance of Spanish football at club level.

'That is not a success of Spanish football,' he argued. 'Just look at how many nationalities there are at Real Madrid. Spanish clubs have the power to buy key foreign players, and without them they would not be at the same level.'

Frank Leboeuf yesterday voiced the common belief that English football must encourage leading players to follow the solitary example of Steve McManaman and complete their education on the continent.

But let's be honest. Minds are closed, talents are limited. It's time to go back to the drawing board, and the database.