2026 FIFA World Cup · UEFA (Europe)France National Football Team
Les Bleus (The Blues)
Group I
Group standings update live during the tournament. All four teams play three group fixtures. Top two and the four best third-placed sides progress to the round of 32.
Group-stage fixtures
Squad
Squad data is currently unavailable. Returning soon as the manager finalises the 26-man list.
How France qualified
France won UEFA Group D with maximum points — six wins from six matches, 18 goals scored, three conceded. The campaign produced the cleanest qualifying record of any traditionally elite UEFA side. Kylian Mbappé scored nine of those 18 goals across the campaign, an extraordinary individual return that included a hat-trick against Iceland in October 2025 and two-goal performances against Ukraine and Azerbaijan. The defining match was a 2-0 home win over Ukraine at the Stade de France on 5 September 2025 — Mbappé and Doué scoring either side of half-time in front of 81,338 — which set the tone for a campaign in which France never trailed in any of the 540 minutes of football. The two-time world champions arrive in 2026 as one of the four pre-tournament favourites alongside Argentina, Brazil and Spain. France enter Group I with Senegal, Iraq and Norway. The Senegal opening fixture on 16 June at MetLife Stadium, with Sadio Mané and Kalidou Koulibaly in the Senegalese starting XI against the Mbappé-Doué France attack, is one of the most-anticipated group-stage fixtures of the tournament. The federation's expectation is unambiguous: a third World Cup title, completing one of the great single-coach tournament-winning legacies in football history.
Direct qualification with two matches to spare — perfect six-from-six record in qualifying.
Final group standings
| # | Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | France Qualification for 2026 FIFA World Cup | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 3 | 18 |
| 2 | Ukraine Advance to play-offs | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 10 |
| 3 | Iceland | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 11 | 7 |
| 4 | Azerbaijan | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 20 | 2 |
Source: FIFA, UEFA
A short history
France are the reigning world No. 1 in the FIFA rankings, two-time World Cup winners (1998 and 2018), and the only European nation to have won every senior FIFA and UEFA competition — World Cup, European Championship, Confederations Cup, Olympic gold and Nations League — that the federation has ever competed for. The Fédération Française de Football was founded in 1919 and Les Bleus have been one of the most consistent forces in international football across the modern era. The 1998 World Cup win on home soil under Aimé Jacquet, with the Zinedine Zidane double in the final against Brazil, is the moment France's modern golden generation announced itself. The 2000 European Championship in the Netherlands and Belgium completed a unique two-tournament double. The 2018 World Cup in Russia, with Kylian Mbappé scoring his first World Cup goals as a 19-year-old and Antoine Griezmann finishing as the Silver Boot winner, was the moment Didier Deschamps' tactical structure crystallised into a system that has now produced eight years of consistent tournament success. Didier Deschamps, the captain of the 1998 World Cup-winning team and head coach since 2012, will leave the role after 2026 — making this tournament the end of one of the most successful single-coach eras in international football. Kylian Mbappé of Real Madrid is captain. The squad combines Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann with Aurélien Tchouaméni (Real Madrid), Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid), William Saliba (Arsenal), Désiré Doué (Paris Saint-Germain) and goalkeeper Mike Maignan. Bradley Barcola of PSG is the breakout creative star of the cycle.
Three games that defined the side
Zinedine Zidane's two-goal performance in the 1998 World Cup final against Brazil at the Stade de France on 12 July 1998 — both headers from corners — sealed France's first World Cup title in front of 80,000 home supporters. The image of Zidane lifting the trophy alongside captain Didier Deschamps, with Aimé Jacquet behind them, remains the defining photograph of French sporting history and was used for the front page of every major French newspaper for a week. Mbappé's hat-trick in the 2022 World Cup final defeat to Argentina — the first in a World Cup final since Geoff Hurst in 1966 — produced one of the most spectacular individual performances in any tournament-deciding match. France lost 4-2 on penalties after a 3-3 draw, but Mbappé's hat-trick (the second player in tournament-final history to score one) and the Argentine win that followed produced what is widely regarded as the greatest World Cup final of the television era. Zinedine Zidane's headbutt on Marco Materazzi in the 2006 final against Italy at the Olympiastadion in Berlin — sent off in the 110th minute of his last competitive match before retirement — remains one of the most-replayed disciplinary moments in football history. France lost the final on penalties after a 1-1 draw; Zidane's red card and the subsequent footage of him walking past the World Cup trophy on his way to the dressing room are part of the standard footage shown on retrospectives of every modern French generation.
Tournament by tournament
| Year | Result | P | W-D-L | GF-GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Champions France | 7 | 6-1-0 | 15-2 |
| 2018 | Champions Russia | 7 | 6-1-0 | 14-6 |
| 2006 | Runners-up Germany | 7 | 3-3-1 | 9-3 |
| 2022 | Runners-up Qatar | 7 | 6-0-1 | 16-8 |
| 1958 | Third place Sweden | 6 | 4-0-2 | 23-15 |
| 1986 | Third place Mexico | 7 | 4-2-1 | 12-6 |
| 1982 | Fourth place Spain | 7 | 3-3-1 | 16-12 |
| 2014 | Quarter-finals Brazil | 5 | 3-1-1 | 10-3 |
Goals at the finals
| Player | Goals | Tournaments |
|---|---|---|
| Just Fontaine | 13 | 1958 — most goals in a single tournament |
| Kylian Mbappé | 12 | 2018, 2022 |
| Thierry Henry | 6 | 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 |
| Zinedine Zidane | 5 | 1998, 2002, 2006 |
| Antoine Griezmann | 6 | 2018, 2022 |