Group I might be the most watchable group at the 2026 World Cup. France, the world's top-ranked side. Norway, built around a striker who scored 16 goals in eight qualifiers. Senegal, who already beat England 3-1 just months ago. And Iraq, who scraped through an intercontinental playoff but will be competing on football's biggest stage for the first time since 1986. This one has teeth.
The group in detail
France arrive as the tournament's chief favourites — FIFA No. 1, two World Cup titles, and a squad that's arguably deeper than the one that narrowly lost on penalties to Argentina in Qatar. Didier Deschamps has confirmed he's leaving after this tournament, so the motivation is obvious: he wants to exit as a two-time World Cup-winning coach. Kylian Mbappe, now at Real Madrid, leads the attack. Behind him, Michael Olise, Bradley Barcola and Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembele give France a forward line most nations would trade their entire squad for. They won their UEFA qualifying group with five wins from six, finishing six points clear of Ukraine. France don't just look capable of winning this group — they look capable of winning the whole thing.
Norway are the group's most compelling wildcard. Erling Haaland went through European qualifying like it was a training exercise — 16 goals in eight games, putting him eight clear of the next most prolific scorer (Harry Kane, Memphis Depay, and Marko Arnautovic all managed eight). Norway won every single qualifying match. Not dropped a point. With Martin Odegaard directing traffic from midfield, Stale Solbakken has something that genuinely threatens the group's hierarchy. They haven't been at a World Cup since France '98, when they famously beat Brazil before going out to Italy. This generation is better.
Senegal are not here to make up the numbers. Under new coach Pape Thiaw — himself part of the Senegal squad that shocked France and reached the quarterfinals in 2002 — they went unbeaten through CAF qualifying (seven wins, three draws) and followed it up with that 3-1 friendly win over England in June 2025. Nicolas Jackson has left Chelsea for Bayern Munich. Pape Matar Sarr is one of the most underrated midfielders in the Premier League. Ismaila Sarr provides relentless width. The Lions of Teranga are firmly in the frame to qualify from this group, and their opening match against France carries genuine historical weight given 2002.
Iraq are the group's long shot — ranked 57th in the world, through the playoffs by the skin of their teeth after a 2-1 win over Bolivia, and without a World Cup appearance since Mexico 1986 where they lost all three games. Australian coach Graham Arnold has a difficult job. But intercontinental playoffs exist for a reason, and Iraq earned their place. Key men Zidane Iqbal (Utrecht), Aymen Hussein (Al-Karma) and Merchas Doski (Viktoria Plzen) are relatively unknown quantities at this level, which cuts both ways.
Group I standings and fixtures
The group stage standings will update as matches are played. All six group games are listed below once the schedule is confirmed by FIFA.
On tiebreakers: if teams finish level on points, FIFA first looks at head-to-head results between those teams, then head-to-head goal difference, then head-to-head goals scored. If that doesn't split them, it moves to overall group stage goal difference, goals scored, then disciplinary record (team conduct score), then FIFA ranking.
On third place: in the expanded 48-team format, the eight best third-place finishers across all groups advance to the Round of 32. So even finishing third in Group I isn't necessarily the end of the road — though with France and Norway in this group, making a case for best third-place finish will require points.
Group I team profiles
- France — FIFA ranking: 1st | Titles: 2 (1998, 2018) | Qualified: UEFA Group D winners (5W-1D-0L) | Coach: Didier Deschamps | Key players: Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid), Ousmane Dembele (PSG), William Saliba (Arsenal)
- Norway — FIFA ranking: 31st | Titles: 0 | Qualified: UEFA Group I winners (8W-0L-0D) | Coach: Stale Solbakken | Key players: Erling Haaland (Man City), Martin Odegaard (Arsenal), Sander Berge (Fulham)
- Senegal — FIFA ranking: 14th | Titles: 0 | Qualified: CAF Group B winners (7W-3D-0L) | Coach: Pape Thiaw | Key players: Pape Matar Sarr (Spurs), Nicolas Jackson (Bayern Munich), Ismaila Sarr (Crystal Palace)
- Iraq — FIFA ranking: 57th | Titles: 0 | Qualified: Intercontinental playoff (beat Bolivia 2-1) | Coach: Graham Arnold | Key players: Zidane Iqbal (Utrecht), Aymen Hussein (Al-Karma), Merchas Doski (Viktoria Plzen)
France are short-priced group winners, and rightly so. The Norway vs Senegal battle for second looks like the real contest to watch — and the head-to-head between those two sides could define both their tournaments. Haaland's goals market is already drawing serious attention given what he did in qualifying. Sixteen goals in eight matches doesn't happen by accident.
