France and Ukraine will compete in an exciting fifth group match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, with the two teams vying for top spot in the group vying for qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Thursday, November 13.

France vs. Ukraine will be a very interesting matchup as both teams look to play some exciting football to please their fans while also getting closer to securing top spot in Group D. The prospect of competing for World Cup qualification should make France’s match against Ukraine a truly dramatic battle.

Competition details

Parc des Princes
Paris, France
Thursday, November 13
19:45 (GMT)

Ambitious France face tough test against unpredictable Ukraine in crucial World Cup qualifier

France’s matchup with Ukraine should be a pretty important one, as both teams have performed extremely well in the World Cup group stages so far.

France tops their World Cup qualifying group with 10 points from four games so far, but only three points separate them from second-placed Ukraine, who have seven points from four games so far.

France are favorites to advance out of their group and qualify for the 2026 World Cup, but they must not take their match against Ukraine lightly. They will need to be at their best to beat Ukraine and pull off a crushing victory to increase their chances of reaching the World Cup as soon as possible.

In fact, France has a pretty good record against Ukraine. They have won three of their last five games against Ukraine and have lost just one of 13 games against Ukrainian teams in official competition. Deschamps’ aim is to ensure this good record continues and his side can once again beat Ukraine on the international stage.

Can Mbappe regain his magic against Ukraine?

Kylian Mbappe has encountered some problems during his impressive start to the 2025/26 season at Real Madrid as he has failed to score in his past two games, including a loss to Liverpool in the Champions League.

The Frenchman has scored 18 goals in 16 appearances for the Spanish giants, but he has failed to score in two games, prompting some criticism of him. Kylian Mbappe is determined to silence the doubters with a proactive and clinical performance against Ukraine.

He currently has 53 goals for France and is keen to become France’s all-time leading goalscorer. The Real Madrid star will be looking to use his pace and unpredictable movement to get past Ukrainian defenders and will need to be very ruthless in his finishing to have any chance of sealing a big win for France.

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Ruslan Malinovskyi eager to help his team achieve a surprising result against France

With Ukraine missing some key players due to injury, they will need proactive midfielder Ruslan Malinovsky to be at his most disruptive against France. Malinovskiy has scored three goals for Ukraine in their past two games and has been the driving force in their World Cup qualifying campaign so far.

The 32-year-old has only scored once for Genoa in Serie A this season, but that came in their most recent 2-1 win over Sassuolo. He seemed to have the momentum, and the proactive midfielder needed to make clever moves off the ball, get into the right areas to stun French players and finish chances coolly to lead Ukraine to a big result.

France vs Ukraine injury situation

France injuries: Desire for God, Ousmane Denbourg, Chameni, Adrien Rabiot

Ukraine injured: Arseny Batakhov, Artem Dovbik (doubtful), Vladimir Blazhko

France vs Ukraine predicted lineup

Well aware of the importance of this game, both Deschamps and Rebrov are determined to field their strongest teams. Below, we take a look at France’s predicted lineup against Ukraine:

France prediction eleven: Mike Maignan, Maro Gusteau, William Saliba, Dayot Upamecano, Lucas Digne, Manu Cone, Eduardo Camavinga, Michael Ollis, Ryan Cerki, Bradley Bakla, Kylian Mbappe

Ukraine prediction eleven: Anatoly Trubin, Bohdan Mikhailichenko, Ilya Zabarny, Mykola Matvienko, Vitaliy Mykolenko, Yehor Yarmollyuk, Ole Okhto, Ruslan Malinovsky, Oleksiy Husulyak, Nazar Voloshin, Roman Yaremchuk

main photo

Credit: IMAGO / News Sports

Record date: November 11, 2025