Thanks to their status as quarter-finalists in the Nations League, Les Bleus are protected for this draw.
The summer of 2026 is still far away, but it is getting very close. In any case, it will enter the minds of the players of the French team, who will defend their World Cup final, reached in December 2022 against Argentina.
On December 13, the first step: the draw for the qualifiers. The procedure and the seedings were made official this Thursday, and the Blues will be protected.
Because logically, they are part of pot 1. Winners in 2018, finalists in 2022, Didier Deschamps’ men will therefore avoid all the European big names for the qualifiers. The eight quarter-finalists of the Nations League are in this first pot, and are joined by the four European nations best placed in the FIFA world rankings: England, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria. This same ranking determined the composition of the other four pots.
Twelve groups will therefore be drawn on December 13. While the Blues will avoid strong teams like Spain, England or Germany, they will still be able to meet Ukraine, Turkey, Greece or Norway. Only the top teams in each group will qualify directly for the competition.
The draw pots:
Pot 1: France, Spain, England, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland, Denmark and Austria
Pot 2: Ukraine, Sweden, Turkey, Wales, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Romania, Greece, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Norway
Pot 3: Scotland, Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Israel
Pot 4: Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Belarus, Kosovo, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia and Lithuania
Pot 5: Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein and San Marino.
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