“Figure Arsène” that 15 months from the 2026 World Cup organized in Canada, the United States and Mexico, the French team has still not started the playoffs in the European zone and does not even know its opponents! It is precisely the quarterfinals of the League of Nations that the Blues competed in the coming days against Croatia (first leg Thursday in Split, round return Sunday in Saint-Denis) which will determine the group in which the vice-world champions will be installed. A qualification will give access to the “Final Four” of the LDN scheduled for June, with a potential semi-final against the Winner of the CHOCHE-BAS-Espagne.
During the eliminatory print of the next World Cup carried out last December, France, a seeded as a second 2 in the FIFA ranking (behind Argentina), inherited one of the most difficult adversaries as possible. In the event of a “final Four Four” of the League of Nations, the selection of Didier Deschamps will start his qualifications from the next World Cup against Ukraine, on September 5, probably in Germany (where Ukrainians have been playing for three years). It was one of the national teams to avoid in hat 2 with Sweden of Cracks Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyökeres and Hakan çalhanoglu. Iceland and Azerbaijan would be the other two opponents.
The Blues in front of a “golden generation”
Ukraine indeed has the 13th most expensive workforce in terms of market value on Transfermarktsymbol of its new “golden generation” which was greatly awaited at Euro 2024 in Germany (but which disappointed with an elimination in the first round). The defender of Bournemouth Ilya Zabarnyi, the left -hander of Arsenal Oleksandr Zinchenko, the playmaker of the Shakhtar Georgiy Sudakov and the goalscorer of Roma Artem Dovbyk are all evaluated at 30 million euros or more. Guardians Anatoliy Trubin (Benfica) and Andriy Lunin (Real Madrid) and the attacking midfielder Viktor Tsygankov (Girona) exceed 20 million. The team led by former scorer Serhiy Rebrov could be formidable.
At this little game there, Ukraine has a more “expensive” workforce than Switzerland and Austria, two nations which were in hat 1 with France. And paradoxically, the Blues of Kylian Mbappé will have a weaker opponent, namely the Czech Republic, in the event of elimination in the quarterfinals of the League of Nations against Croatia. Montenegro, the Faroese and Gibraltar would be the other four teams of the G group. In any case, France must not be missed in the World Cup 26 qualifiers (the competition will be fully played in the USA from the quarters). Only the group's winner is qualified, the second being donated to play-offs, with a semi-final and then a final to be won in March 2026 to participate in the World Cup.
