For France Soir, team coach Aime Jacquet had quite simply given the country "a tricolour orgasm".

"It's ours," screamed the popular daily Le Parisien. "For ever,"proclaimed sports daily L'Equipe.

"Incredible, crazy, unimaginable, fabulous, fantastic. We don't know what we have to say, cry or scream to state the truth, we are the champions of the world," said the populist daily Aujourd'Hui, a national version of Le Parisien.

"A century of world football ended this morning at dawn, after a night of jubilation which overwhelmed our country in way which has not happened, with no exaggeration, since the Liberation," L'Equipe said.

France took to the streets after the match for an all-night party with nearly one and half million people packing the Champs Elysees in a seaof tri-colour red, white and blue flags. Within minutes, the elegant Champs Elysee was swamped by a tidal wave of fans.

"Zidane for President," crowds chanted in honour of Zinedine Zidane, whose two first-half goals set up France's historic win.

Mammoth pictures of French team members were flashed up on the front of the Arc de Triomphe.

Police estimate that more than 100,000 people packed the centre of the capital to watch the final on a huge screen set up on the banks of the Seine.

Supporters, many with their faces painted red, white and blue, clung to lamp posts, traffic lights and shop awnings to get a glimpse of the action. Thousands more people dispersed into the side streets, packing bars and restaurants to watch the game.

Some first floor residents placed their television sets on their window sills to let fans watch the game.

"They snuffed out the magicians of Brazil. They are the champions of the world. The last of this millennium. Stupendous," the conservative daily Le Figarosaid.

The left-leaning daily Liberation saw France's first World Cup victory as a chance for the country to escape from the economic gloom which has depressed the people and left three million out of work. The team's success "creates today hope of escape from the long tunnel of economic depression," it said. For Aujourd'Hui though, even comparisons with the Liberation were not enough.

"There was July 14, 1789, the date when the Bastille, symbol of the old regime, was taken by the people of Paris, the date when the French Revolution began."

"And there is July 12, 1998, the date of the victory of the French football team in the World Cup, France's World Cup. And the date for the new French Revolution."

"Nothing will ever be the same again," it said, calling on politicians, bosses, union leaders and artists to pick up the ball set in motion by the winning national team.

Other articles highlighted the new scope for racial unity in a country which only a few months ago was nervously eyeingthe national front after a strong showing for the far-right, anti-immigrant party in regional elections.

Now the entire country was out in support of a team of players, some of whom had been written off by national front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen as not French enough.

"This unique collective adventure in this country's life must find a continuation, a continuation which will allow us to live together more confidently and more happily," Le Parisien said.

"Zidane, master of the world," said L'Equipe in a tribute to the new national hero, Zinedine Zidane, a son of Algerian immigrants who scored France's first two goals.

"Throughout the whole day, a country had its date with destiny...11 for all and all for 11," said the Sunday Le Journal Du Dimanche which brought out a special Monday edition.