Recently, a friendly match against Ivory Coast was announced by the French Football Federation (FFF) as part of the French national team’s preparations for the 2026 World Cup. This Thursday, a match against Northern Ireland in Nantes on June 8th was added, as reported by RMC Sport.
“After an initial match against Ivory Coast in Nantes on Thursday, June 4th, the French national team (ranked 1st in the FIFA rankings) will host Northern Ireland (ranked 70th in the FIFA rankings) on Monday, June 8th, 2026 (9:10 PM live on TF1) at the Décathlon Arena Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille Métropole (Nord), as part of its preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup (June 11th to July 19th in the United States, Canada, and Mexico),” the FFF announced.
We now know that Les Bleus will fine-tune their preparations against Northern Ireland and in France, a great opportunity to support the French national team before they depart for a competition where they will be under particular scrutiny.
As a reminder, France will face Norway, Senegal, and Iraq during the group stage.
