FIFA World Cup 2026 Prediction: France vs Senegal (16-06-2026)

France and Senegal meet in what could be one of the most entertaining opening matches of the FIFA World Cup group stage.

France arrive ranked third in the FIFA rankings, while Senegal sit 15th. Both nations possess plenty of attacking quality and enough individual talent to trouble even the strongest defences.

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France have scored at least two goals in six of their last eight matches.

Victories over Northern Ireland, Colombia, Brazil and Azerbaijan highlighted the attacking quality available to Didier Deschamps, but recent results also show that France are not always watertight defensively.

They conceded against Northern Ireland, Ivory Coast, Colombia, Brazil and Iceland during that period.

Senegal possess enough attacking talent to take advantage of those opportunities.

The African side scored against the USA, Gambia, Sudan, DR Congo and Egypt in recent matches, while also averaging more than two goals per game across their last ten outings.

The only previous World Cup meeting between these nations came in 2002 when Senegal famously defeated France 1-0.

While that result has little relevance today, it underlines the fact that Senegal have never been intimidated by elite opposition.

France deserve to be favourites, but Senegal have enough quality going forward to make their mark on this match.

With both teams carrying dangerous attacking players and France rarely keeping clean sheets against stronger opposition recently, backing both teams to score looks like an appealing option.