France

France arrives at the 2026 World Cup carrying the weight of history and the momentum of dominance. No national team has reached three consecutive World Cup finals since Brazil's golden era of the late 1950s and early 1960s, yet Les Bleus have done exactly that — losing to Italy on penalties in 2006, defeating Croatia 4-2 in 2018, and falling to Argentina on penalties in the Qatar 2022 final after one of the most dramatic comebacks in tournament history. That record of sustained excellence is not an accident. It reflects a French football system that has produced an extraordinary pipeline of elite talent for three consecutive generations. At the center of everything remains Kylian Mbappé, now 27 years old and at the absolute peak of his powers. His partnership with Ousmane Dembélé on the right flank creates arguably the fastest and most technically precise wing combination at the tournament — two players who have won La Liga together at Real Madrid and can destroy defenses with either direct running or intricate combination play. In midfield, Aurelien Tchouaméni provides the defensive intelligence that allows the attack to function without structural risk. Behind them, William Saliba and Ibrahima Konaté form a center-back partnership that has been battle-tested at the highest levels of Champions League football. France's draw in Group I — facing Senegal, Norway, and Iraq — is widely regarded as the tournament's most favorable assignment for a top-tier side. Manager Didier Deschamps, who lifted the trophy in 2018 as a coach to match his 1998 triumph as captain, has managed to keep a squad of enormous egos functioning as a coherent unit across multiple tournament cycles, which is itself a managerial achievement that deserves far more credit than it typically receives. Betting markets place France at +450 — co-favorite status alongside Spain — and Opta AI's probabilistic model gives them an 18.2 percent tournament win probability. The primary concern is the perennial French vulnerability: what happens when Mbappé is marked out of a game? The answer to that question may determine whether 2026 finally delivers the third star.