For all its flaws and fractures, there's still something wholly heartening about football's capacity for unification.

At a time when Europe's governments are debating whether or not to tear themselves apart from one another - with Britain holding a referendum on the issue - the sport's great and good are congregating in France this month for a festival of sheer escapism.

The host nation finds itself in a time of strife. Last November's terrorist attacks on Paris left a lasting scar on the nation, with the continent as a whole on edge ever since. Friday's curtain-raiser will be played at a stadium attacked by suicide bombers just seven months ago. Indeed, this summer's tournament has dawned with a sense of unease that refuses to shift.

When the host of the 2016 tournament was announced six years ago France was seen as the safe option, particularly with the competition expanded to 24 teams for the first time. They had the stadiums and the infrastructure to cope with such demands. And yet now that the competition is here very little seems safe, even with 90,000 security figures deployed.

France is a country that excels in times of trouble, though. The build-up to the 1998 World Cup, also held in the country, was tumultuous too, with France a divided nation. Aime Jacquet's squad selection was the subject of mainstream political scrutiny, with the nation's far right opposing the diversity of his team.

However, football's capacity for unification was proven by the time France 98 had concluded. Jean Marie Le Pen and the National Front were left marginalised by the momentous awakening that occurred over the course of the tournament, with millions taking to the capital's streets in an astonishing display of glorious, beautiful victory. France's 1998 win wasn't just a sporting triumph, but a cultural one too.

Now France is charged with somehow capturing that spirit once again. Questions regarding Les Blues' diversity have once more marred preparations, with banned striker Karim Benzema claiming manager Didier Deschamps has bowed to "the racist part of France" by omitting him from the squad. Eric Cantona went as far as suggesting Deschamps himself had assembled his squads on the basis of his players' ethnic roots.

Couple all this with the sense of fear still lingering in the country and it becomes apparent that France is in need of another summer like the one it enjoyed 18 years ago. Fundamentally, football might be little more than a trivial pursuit, but the cultural impression Euro 2016 could leave behind goes far beyond that.

Deschamps may be a dividing figure in some sections, but he is the ideal candidate to lead Les Blues into this summer's European Championships having already led the country to World Cup glory in 1998 as captain. He must call on his experience this summer as France face a scenario not too dissimilar from the one they were confronted with nearly two decades ago.

Of course, the precise circumstance of the two scenarios 18 years apart are different. There are parallels to be drawn but 2016 is not a mirror reflection of 1998, even if France do end up parading the trophy around the Stade de France on July 10. Nonetheless, there is an uplifting, rousing tale waiting to be told this summer. The continent needs one.

If France don't provide that tale then maybe an underdog will - and with 24 teams involved in this year's tournament there is certainly no shortage of them. Perhaps Iceland - the smallest nation to ever compete at the European Championships - will perform above all expectations. Maybe Northern Ireland - at their first major tournament since 1986 - will surge into the latter rounds.

With the likes of Germany and Spain in transition the window has been left for an outsider to pass through. This summer's European Championship has the potential to provide a momentous narrative, like it did in 2004 when Greece pulled off one of football's greatest shocks. Or in 1992 when Denmark did similarly.

Whatever happens over the next month, France and Europe needs something to rally behind. Major tournament controversy and instability is nothing new after the 2014 and 2010 World Cups, as well as everything that has come with the award of the 2022 tournament to Qatar, but never before has a sporting competition kicked off with more apprehension than anticipation.

Only football can dispel that.