Paul Rouget, Media365: published on Friday December 13, 2024 at 3:02 p.m.
The draw for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers took place on Friday noon, and the Blues do not yet know their opponents, since their group will depend on their result against Croatia in the quarter-finals of the Nations League. “There is less visibility,” recognizes Didier Deschamps.
The Blues are (almost) fixed. The draw for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers took place on Friday noon in Zurich (Switzerland), at FIFA headquarters. But the vice-world champions do not yet know their future opponents during these qualifications for the next World Cup, scheduled from March 21 to November 18, 2025, before the play-offs. Because the group in which Didier Deschamps' men will play will depend on their result against Croatia in the quarter-finals of the League of Nations next March.
“Complicated for many people to understand the draw”
If successful, the Tricolores will play in Group D, alongside Ukraine, Iceland and Azerbaijan. If they lose to the Croatians, they will inherit a group of five teams, the L, with the Czech Republic, Montenegro, the Faroe Islands and Gibraltar. Two groups well within the reach of Kylian Mbappé and his teammates, even if their coach, unsurprisingly, prefers to be cautious. Very careful.
“We have seven potential opponents with different profiles. We know a little more but we don't know everything yet. It's complicated for a lot of people to understand the draw. There is less visibility compared to what there has been before but the key word is to adapt, declared Didier Deschamps after the draw We are not going to play the quarter-final of the League of Nations to be in the group of. five or in the group of four It will have an impact but this. What is more problematic is the supervision of these teams since it will take a lot of people to see our potential opponents. But it is the particularity of this draw which is not completely decisive. We will therefore have to wait until March to find out.
