After three straight victories in its 2026 World Cup qualifying group in the Europe zone, the France team missed the opportunity to fly to an easy qualification. The Blues, deprived of numerous players – including their star captain Kylian Mbappé and the reigning Ballon d'Or Ousmane Dembélé – took only one point in Iceland (2-2) on Monday evening. They are leaders of group D but see Ukraine come back to three points, before receiving the Ukrainians at the Parc des Princes on November 14.
Barring disaster, France will compete in the World Cup 26 co-organized by Canada, the United States and Mexico (but played entirely in the US from the quarter-finals onwards). And the second nation in the Fifa Ranking, behind Spain and ahead of Argentina, will appear in the top seeds alongside the three host countries and the best world selections.
In addition to La Roja and Albiceleste, we will also find Brazil, qualified like Argentina, as well as England, Portugal, Brazil, the Netherlands, Belgium and probably Germany – if all these beautiful people ensure qualification on Tuesday evening or mid-November.
France should avoid Germany
The victories of Germany and Belgium on Monday evening, respectively against Northern Ireland (0-1) and Wales (2-4), are particularly decisive for the teams concerned. The Mannschaft took the lead in their group ahead of Slovakia before facing Luxembourg in mid-November, while Rudi Garcia's Red Devils are in a strong position in Group J with an upcoming victory against Kazakhstan synonymous with qualification.
Thanks to their latest results, Germans and Belgians win the Fifa points which would allow them to appear in pot 1 of the draw for the World Cup, on December 5 in Washington DC. And this, at the expense of Croatia, Morocco and Colombia. This is great news for other top seeds like France, with Germany projected into Pot 2 of the draw last month.
