World Cup: What awaits Les Bleus?
France have qualified for a consecutive eight World Cup finals since 1998 and this time will go to the USA, Canada, and Mexico, as opposed to in 1994, when they went to just the former. Winners in 1998 and 2018, France will be among the 48 qualified nations for the draw in Washington on 5th December.
Draw info
For this draw on 5th December, at 18:00 (CET), the format will consist of four hats, each with 12 teams, with an allocation based on the FIFA ranking at the end of this current international window. Currently, Spain, Argentina, England, Portugal, and the Netherlands are, alongside Les Bleus, the highest-ranked. However, Brazil, Belgium, and even Germany and Morocco are now top-seeded.
Currently in third, France are assured of being one of the nine top-seeded sides, alongside the three host countries, the USA, Canada, and Mexico.
How to qualify?
Next summer, the first round will consist of 12 groups of four teams, from which the top two teams, as well as the eight best-placed third-place teams, will qualify for a Round of 32.
In total, there will be 104 matches. If, up until now, the winner played seven matches, they will have to play one more in 2026 in order to become world champions.
How many France players selected?
During the last World Cup, in Qatar, FIFA increased the maximum squad size from 22 to 26 players. For the 2026 World Cup, the figure has not yet been officialised, but in any case, it should not be less than the 26 players and could even be as high as 30, with consideration around the players' health and fitness.
Regarding the announcement of the list of players that will go to the World Cup, Didier Deschamps is expected to make the announcement in the second half of May, as is usually the case for when the finals begin in June.
When will players be available for the France national team?
Whilst the final day of Ligue 1 McDonald's is set for Saturday 16th May (21:00 CET) and the promotion-relegation play-offs will finish on Sunday 24th May, players must be released on 25th May 2026 (exceptions subject to FIFA's validation will apply until 30th May, in view of finals of club competitions within the different confederations).
In 2022, FIFA increased the maximum number of players on the release list from 35 to 55.
READ MORE
