The football world will be set in two weeks. The qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, organized in Canada, the United States and Mexico, will conclude during the November international window. After South America, Asia and Africa, it is the major European nations which will validate their ticket for the next North American World Cup, like a French team which has the opportunity to punch its ticket against Ukraine at the Parc des Princes on November 13.
Third in the FIFA World Rankings behind Spain and Argentina (and ahead of England), the Blues will be one of the 12 seeds in the draw scheduled for December 5 in Washington DC (6 p.m. in France). In addition to La Roja, Albiceleste, the Three Lions and the three host countries, Kylian Mbappé and his teammates will also not be able to face Portugal, Brazil, Belgium of Rudi Garcia and Germany (if everyone qualifies in two weeks).
The November Fifa ranking will determine the four hats of the draw and, with the expansion of the Fifa tournament to 48 participants (for 12 groups of 4), hat 2 offers good teams but also particularly modest formations, France hopes not to play Morocco, Senegal, Uruguay or Colombia to inherit a much easier “shock” against Iran or Australia. The Socceroos, who have gained Fifa points in recent months, are projected into pot 2.
The Blues against Uzbekistan and Jamaica?
It could be even easier for Didier Deschamps and his gang with the draw of an unknown national team in pot 3 with Uzbekistan, or even South Africa, which is the selection which obtained the fewest points in qualifying in the Africa zone (to finish with a head start on Nigeria and Benin).
Finally, hat 4 of this World Cup 26 (played entirely in the US from the quarter-finals onwards) is an improbable catch-all with the four European play-offs who will not be known until next March. Italy, Turkey and Ukraine could thus qualify three months before the competition. But the French team could also come across the two newbies Jordan and Cape Verde, as well as Jamaica and New Zealand (which could find itself in the group of its Australian neighbor, considered an Asian team).
