It is not trivial, the French team changes home. The Blues of Didier Deschamps will not play their three matches of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers at the Stade de France. It was at the Parc des Princes that they will welcome Iceland on September 9, Azerbaijan, October 10, and Ukraine, on November 13, in group D qualifying. The FFF was to give the place of the meetings to the UEFA and opted for the park because the concession of the enclosure of Saint-Denis, at the end of the contract with the Vinci-Bouygues consortium in August, was not officially allocated to GL Events.
After the inauguration of the “large stadium”, the first name given to the structure of 80,000 places, on January 28, 1998, the tricolor selection found its emblematic “house”. And for good reason, Zinedine Zidane and his teammates made it a legendary stadium for French football after winning the 1998 World Cup at the SDF, leaving Italy on penalties and overthrowing Croatia in the semi-finals before defeating Brazil 3-0. What make you forget one of the worst disasters in the history of the French team, namely the non-qualification for the 1994 World Cup in the United States with two last defeats in the Parc des Princes.
The lair of PSG was formerly the historic stadium of the EDF, but the World Cup 94 qualifiers were an XXL trauma for an entire generation. France beat Austria (2-0), Finland (2-1) and Sweden (2-1) in the 16ᵉ arrondissement and turned to the top of its hen before the last two games at home. But Gérard Houllier's men lost in the 90th minute against Israel (2-3), who had not won any match until then, before sinking into the 90th also against Bulgaria on a goal from Emil Kostadinov, on November 17, 1993. On the field, Didier Deschamps could not do anything …
The French team in danger against Ukraine
It is long before a new World Cup in North America that France will find the Parc des Princes as a home land. Co-organized by Canada, the United States and Mexico, the Quadrian meeting will be played in full in the country of Uncle Sam from the quarter-finals … That said, Kylian Mbappé and his teammates will not have to have trouble getting rid of the Icelanders and Azerbaijanais in September and October. It is especially the shock against Ukraine, from the start, which will set the tone of the Blues' qualifying campaign. The Ukrainian team has received in another country since 2022 and its federation has not yet announced the place.
In order to qualify for the 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022 editions of the great FIFA tournament, France has only played six times far from the Stade de France. In Lens in 2005 and in Guingamp in 2009, each time against the Faroeas (3-0 and 5-0), as well as in Toulouse in 2017 against Luxembourg (0-0). In 2021, due to work at the Stade de France, as the Rugby World Cup and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games approached, the Blues of “La Dèche” played in Strasbourg against Bosnia (1-1), in Parc OL against Finland (2-0) and in the Parc des Princes for an 8-0 against Kazakhstan.
