The general repetition is over. Victorious over Brazil in Boston on Thursday (1-2) and Colombia in Washington this Sunday (1-3), the French team has completed their final preparation phase before regrouping at the end of May to head towards the 2026 World Cup, which will take place from June 11 to July 19.
However, the Blues will not wait for the opening match to return to the center of attention. As of May 14, coach Didier Deschamps will announce, on the TF1 8 p.m. news, the list of players who will fly to the United States less than a month later. Initially planned for the day before, this announcement was postponed by one day due to the rescheduling of the Lens-PSG Ligue 1 match, now scheduled for May 13.
The gathering of troops at Clairefontaine to kick off the final preparation is set for two weeks later and may vary depending on the players. While FIFA requires clubs to release their international players by Monday, May 25, many selected players will have played their final match the previous weekend, as the English, Italian, and Spanish leagues all end on that date, along with the German Cup and the French Cup. The Champions League final, scheduled for Saturday, May 30, could further delay the arrival of some players.
In any case, Didier Deschamps does not plan to rush his players and intends to offer them a few days of rest with their families before embarking on an adventure that could last up to six weeks. The entire group is expected to arrive at Clairefontaine on May 27 or 28, with the exception of any potential Champions League finalists.
The schedule will then quickly unfold, with the first friendly match on June 4 in Nantes against the Ivory Coast. A second match is planned four days later in Lille, but the opponent is not yet known. It will depend on the final qualifier from the intercontinental playoffs, either Iraq or Bolivia, to allow the Blues to prepare for a similar opponent.
The departure for the United States is scheduled for June 10, the day before the opening match of the World Cup between Mexico and South Africa. The French team will kick off their campaign on June 16 against Senegal at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. They will continue their group stage matches against the winner of Tuesday’s playoff between Iraq and Bolivia on June 22 in Philadelphia, and on June 26 in Boston against Norway.
