Overview
The French team enters the round of 32 of the 2026 World Cup with extremely impressive form and will face Sweden. The winning team will meet Paraguay in the round of 16.
Coach Didier Deschamps' team won all 3 group stage matches against Senegal, Iraq and Norway to lead Group I. This is also the first time since the 1998 World Cup that Les Bleus have closed the group stage of a major tournament with a winning record.
That is a positive sign for Deschamps, who once lifted the 1998 World Cup championship as captain of the French national team. After nearly three decades, the 56-year-old strategist is aiming for another successful journey with his home team.
France's greatest strength lies in their explosive attack. The blue shirt team has scored at least 3 goals in 4 consecutive World Cup matches and is facing the opportunity to set a new record. No team has ever scored 3 or more goals in 5 consecutive matches at the biggest football festival on the planet.
Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele are the two most formidable explosives. Both have scored 4 goals at the 2026 World Cup, in which Dembele just scored a hat-trick against Norway in the last round of the group stage.
Not only scoring together, this duo also coordinates extremely well. Since the 2022 World Cup, Mbappe and Dembele have directly created 5 goals for each other, the most between any pair of players at the World Cup since 1966.
In addition, Michael Olise and Desire Doue also brought more quality attacking options, helping France become one of the brightest candidates for the championship.
Under Deschamps, France also has very impressive achievements in knockout matches. Since the 1998 World Cup, Les Bleus have surpassed 15 out of 18 knockout matches, stopping only before Italy (2006), Germany (2014) and Argentina (2022).
However, Sweden is not an easy opponent to underestimate. Coach Graham Potter's team finished the group stage in third place in Group F but still won a ticket to the next round thanks to good results.
Viktor Gyokeres continues to be the biggest hope in attack when leading the team in the number of shots (11) and chances created (8) after the group stage.
Meanwhile, Anthony Elanga is in very high form with two consecutive scoring matches against the Netherlands and Japan. If he continues to score against France, the Nottingham Forest player will become one of the very few Swedish players to score in 3 consecutive World Cup matches.
In addition, Yasin Ayari also contributed 2 goals, helping Sweden own 7 goals in the group stage - the best scoring record of this team in a World Cup since 1994.
Head-to-head record
France and Sweden have met 23 times in all competitions. Les Bleus have an advantage with 12 wins, while Sweden has won 6 matches, and the two teams have drawn 5 times.
However, this is only the third time the two teams have faced each other in a major tournament and also the first confrontation between them in the World Cup arena.
In the previous two encounters at EURO, Sweden was slightly better when they drew 1-1 at EURO 1992 before winning 2-0 in the group stage of EURO 2012.
Score prediction: France 3-1 Sweden
The match between France and Sweden takes place at 4:00 AM on July 1st (Vietnam time).
