FIFA Football World Cup 2026: Why France Will Be Crowned Champions On 19th July.

Dr Abubakar Alkali 

The world greatest sports fiesta, the FIFA World Cup is here again as over 6 billion people around the world are expected to watch the fiesta from tomorrow 11th of June 2026 through to the epic final match on 19th July. The global economy is expected to rake in over $41 billion from the fiesta which holds across 16 stadia in 3 countries – U.S.A, Canada and Mexico. That’s about N55.8 Trillion which is approximately N1 trillion more than Nigeria’s national budget for 2025.

Sadly, the expanded 48 team tournament at the 23rd edition of the World Cup (up from 39 teams in Qatar 2022) will not see our own Super Eagles on display. Nigeria missed out on qualification to the 2026 World Cup not due to technical issues or dearth of the right players but wholly due to lack of effective planning and absence of the right strategies. Sadly, the NFF management that led Nigeria to this abysmal performance and the coach Eric Chelle are still in charge of our football. You can’t draw your first three matches and expect to qualify for the World Cup. You actually need a miracle in such situations and miracles do not happen at all times.

The excitement builds up as the soccer world awaits the opening match between Mexico and South Africa at the Mexico City stadium tomorrow at 19:000 GMT (20:00 Nigeria Time). That will be a rematch of the 2010 World Cup opener held in Johannesburg South Africa which ended 1-1.

As football lovers all over the world glue to their TV screens from 11th June 11 – 19th July to watch each of the explosive football matches, the question remains as to which team will win the coveted trophy and ran away with the cash price of $50 million excluding commercial bonuses, image rights or player payout enforcements.

Based on record at the World Cup and current pedigree including FIFA ratings, France stands out as the team to win the 2026 World Cup. The players, hunger, brilliance and technical depth of the French team is such that you cannot but put them first on the list of likely winners of the World Cup. It is no coincidence that the FIFA world rankings place France as the current best football team in the world with 1877.32 points with Spain coming a close second with 1876.4. This places France in pole position to win the trophy as the Les Blues have the talents, hunger and technical depth to lift the trophy on 19th July with Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, sleek Michael Oliseh, Aurelian Tchoumeni, Rayan Cherki and Desire Doue causing havoc upfront. A very solid defence marshaled by Lucas Hernandez, Ibrahim Konate and Jules Kounde provide effective cover for first choice goalkeeper Mike Magnan.

The French coach Didier Deschamps is highly experienced although many pundits will question his decision to substitute Olivier Giroud at the dying minutes of the explosive final with Argentina in the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar. Giroud is a master in aerial balls and there were a few aerial battles in that final which Giroud would have won and scored for France to defeat Argentina and win the 2022 World Cup back-to-back having won the 2018 edition.

The French team is hungry for the trophy and they have the players, the technical depth and a highly experienced coach in Deschamps to win it. Smarting from their loss on penalties to Argentina at the last Messi-inspired World Cup final in 2022 in Qatar, the only make-up for that loss is for France to lift the 2026 World Cup trophy on 19th July at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey U.S.A.

Since its inception in 1930 the World Cup has remained a clear contest between Europe and South America. The closest Africa came to winning the trophy was the semi-final qualification of Morocco in the last edition in Qatar 2022. Clearly, 2 of Africa’s 10 teams at the 2026 World Cup -Morocco and Senegal – have shown the knack to do extremely well in this tournament. Undoubtedly, Senegal has the pedigree to reach the semi-finals of this year’s World Cup or even the final.

Rest assured, there will not be any surprise winner of the World Cup in this tournament. Since the inaugural tournament in 1930, the World Cup has rotated between Europe and South America with Europe winning it 12 times while South America won it 10 times. A huge surprise is the absence of Italy in the last three editions including the 2026 World Cup. The Azzuris were absent in the 2018, 2022 and 2026 editions as they were dumped by minors Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties in the last qualifier.

The world cup has rotated amongst Italy, Brazil, Germany, France, Uruguay, Argentina, England and Spain. Brazil has won it the most – 5 times. But will the Samba boys reignite their old flame and rhythm to prove sceptics wrong this time? Clearly France remains the favourite and is odds-on to win it and claim their 3rd World Cup trophy.