Axel Allag, Media365, published on Friday November 29, 2024 at 10:00 a.m.
Due to its status as quarter-finalist in the League of Nations, the French team will be in very good shape with a view to the draw on December 13.
The Blues will be protected. It is on Friday December 13 (12 p.m.) that the draw for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers will take place at FIFA headquarters in Zurich. And Didier Deschamps' players will not have much to fear because, due to their status as quarter-finalists of the Nations League, they will be in pot 1 before the adventure which will take place in the United States , in Canada and Mexico. A privilege shared with Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain (in the same situation in the League of Nations) but also by England, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria, the next four highest ranked European nations in the FIFA rankings.
A group of 4 or 5 teams for the Blues?
Uncertainty will still remain around the presence of the Blues in a group of 4 or 5 teams for the qualifiers for the next World Cup (48-team tournament scheduled from June 11 to July 19, 2026). In the event of accession to the Final Four of the League of Nations (June 4 to 8, 2025) and therefore success against Croatia in the quarter-final next March, then the players of the France team will play in a group of four with the start of the qualifying campaign for the 2026 World Cup in September 2025. In the case of elimination against Croatia, it is in June 2025, and in a group of five countries, that France will begin the qualifiers for the next global tournament. Only the first in each group will directly qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
Hats for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers
Hat 1: France, Spain, England, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland, Denmark and Austria.
Hat 2: Ukraine, Sweden, Türkiye, Wales, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Romania, Greece, Slovakia, Czechia and Norway.
Hat 3: Scotland, Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Israel.
Hat 4: Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Belarus, Kosovo, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia and Lithuania.
Hat 5: Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein and San Marino.