Group I features many peoples favourites and the 2022 runners up France along with Senegal who won the African Cup of Nations on penalties against Morocco in January although the title has since been awarded to Morrocco.
The Group also features Norway and Intercontinental Playoff winners Iraq.
FRANCE –
France easily won European Qualifying Group D winning 5 of their 6 games to finish well ahead of Ukraine.
In March 2026 they beat Brazil in a friendly in USA 2-1 and a few days later with a completely different team beat Colombia even more convincingly 3-1.
France are managed by their World Cup winning captain from 1998 and manager from 2018, Didier Deschamps
France have AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan in goal.
The defence includes Bayern Munich’s Dayot Upamecano, Arsenal’s Willima Saliba and Lucas Digne of Aston Villa adds more experience. Barcelona’s Jules Koundé is also in their squad along with brothers Lucas and Theo Hernandez.
The French midfield features Real Madrid’s Aurélien Tchouaméni and Adrien Rabiot of AC Milan. Manchester City winger Rayan Cherki and the experienced N’Golo Kante will also feature
The attack is led by captain Kylian Mbappé who scored a hat trick in the 2022 World Cup Final despite being on the losing team.
France can also rely on goals from Ousmane Dembélé of PSG , Marcus Thuram of Inter Milan with the emerging talent of PSG’s Bradley Barcola and Désiré Doué (his brother Guela is an Ivory Coast international). Sadly Liverpool’s Hugo Ekitike will miss the tournament through injury. France can also call upon Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise.
SENEGAL –
Senegal qualified as winners of African Qualifying Group B ahead of DR Congo, their 3-2 away to DR Congo proving crucial.
In March 2026 friendlies Senrgal beat Peru 2-0 and Gambia 3-1.
Senegal manager is Pape Thiaw
Senegal have former Chelsea goalkeeper Édouard Mendy
In defence they are led by captain Kalidou Koulibaly formerly of Napoli and Chelsea. They also have Krépin Diatta of Monaco and El Hadji Malick Diouf of West Ham.
The Senegal midfield includes Idrissa Gueye of Everton alongside Pape Sarr from Tottenham and Habib Diarra of Sunderland
In attack Senegal talisman is former Liverpool star Sadio Mané with Ismaïla Sarr of Crystal Palace. The star for Senegal could be Nicolas Jackson of Chelsea who is on loan at Bayern Munich.
NORWAY –
Norway qualified as winners of European Qualifying Group I with maximum points beating Italy 3-0 at home and 4-1 away.
In March 2026 friendlies they lost 2-1 to Holland and drew 0-0 with Switzerland.
Norway are managed by former Wolves manager Ståle Solbakken
In goal Norway have Ørjan Nyland of Sevilla
In defence Norway include Marcus Holmgren Pedersen of Torino alongside Brentford’s former Celtic defender Kristoffer Ajer and Julian Ryerson of Borussia Dortmund,
In midfield Norway have Arsenal’s Martin Ødegaard as captain alongside Sander Berge of Fulham and Rangers Thelo Aasgaard.
Norway’s real strength is their attack with Manchester City’s Erling Haaland who plays alongside Alexander Sørloth of Atlético Madrid and Crystal Palace’s former Wolves striker Jørgen Strand Larsen.
IRAQ –
Iraq qualified through the Second Round of qualifying winning Group F with Indonesia also going through.
In the Third Round they failed to qualify automatically finishing third behind automatic qualifiers South Kore and Jordan.
This meant Iraq went into Round Four where they finished in second place in Group B behind automatic qualifiers Saudi Arabia.
This put Iraq into a two legged playoff where they beat UAE 3-2 on aggregate to qualify for the Intercontinental playoff in March 2026 against Bolivia which they won 2-1 to finally qualify.
Iraq manager is former Australia manager Graham Arnold
Iraq goalkeeper is Ahmed Basil, with Fahad Talib as back up.
Iraq’s defence includes Rebin Sulaka, Merchas Doski of Viktoria Plzeň and Saad Natiq.
In midfield Iraq have Ibrahim Bayesh and Amir Al-Ammari
In attack they have Luton’s Ali Al-Hamadi and Aymen Hussein
Group I Fixtures
16/6/26 8pm France v Senegal
16/6/26 11pm Norway v Iraq
22/6/26 10pm France v Iraq
23/6/26 1am Norway v Senegal
26/6/26 8pm France v Norway
26/6/26 8pm Senegal v Iraq
PREDICTIONS
I would expect France to win all three games.
Norway v Senegal will be the decisive game and I can see Norway winning to clinch second place leaving Senegal to finish third and going for goals against Iraq in their final game.
1st Place prediction – France 9pts
2nd Place prediction – Norway 6pts
3rd Place prediction – Senegal 3pts GD -1
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