Jose Maria Olazabal has guided his Continental Europe team to a 15-13 victory at the Seve Trophy at Golf de Saint-Nom-la-Breteche.
It is only the second time that the Great Britain & Ireland team have suffered defeat in the tournament since losing the inaugural event at Sunningdale Golf Club in 2000.
The teams were locked at 9-9 heading into the final 10 singles matches, which the Continentals won 6-4 thanks to points from Nicolas Colsaerts, Gregory Bourdy, Matteo Manassero, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Francesco Molinari.
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Thomas Bjorn halved their matches against Jamie Donaldson and Simon Khan.
Tommy Fleetwood, Marc Warren and Paul Lawrie put three points on the board for the GB&I team under the stewardship of Sam Torrance.
