For the next Worlds, the French have been appointed in Poland and Sweden. The competition will be held from January 11 through 29.
The draw took place in Katowice on Saturday, which was one of the host cities for the competition. This will be the home of the six-time titled team from the preliminary round.
France was placed in Group E. They will be playing one of the hosts. They will also be facing Poland in the opening match at 8:30 p.m.
Guillaume Gille’s men will challenge Saudi Arabia on Jan 14th and Slovenia on Jan 16th.
The French coach explained that it was a subscription we took with Poland as it would be our opponent next March in Euro 2024 qualifying.
“This draw will see us playing the inaugural match against the host country on January 11, one day earlier than the other teams. We will be able to give the competition a fiery start by playing against the host nation from the beginning. This will bring us the energy and enthusiasm of the Polish people.
“This draw brought us opponents we hadn’t faced for a while: Poland (since 2016), Saudi Arabia, and Slovenia (since 2017). Even though it was eliminated in round one of the last Euro, the latter is still a dangerous team.
This World Cup will feature 32 countries. There will be eight pools with four teams. The main round will see 24 nations compete in the first three teams from each group.
France will meet three of their Group A opponents in Group B if they are qualified. Spain, Montenegro and Iran will be part of the pool.
The quarter-finals will be decided by the two pools of six nations. The final will take place in Stockholm on January 29th.
