Preview: France vs Northern Ireland - prediction, team news, lineups

France welcome Northern Ireland to the Stade Pierre-Mauroy on Monday evening for their final friendly fixture before heading to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Les Bleus suffered a concerning 2-1 defeat against Ivory Coast in their previous match, while the Green and White Army edged past Guinea in Cadiz.

Match preview

With five wins and one draw, two time World Cup champions France finished top of European qualifying Group D and booked their place at this summer’s tournament in North America.

Didier Deschamps’s men go into the competition at the top of the FIFA World Rankings and with an abundance of talent, especially in attack, are the favourites to lift the trophy on July 19, bouncing back from their defeat in 2022’s final against Argentina .

Les Bleus also head into their opening match against Senegal in great form, winning eight of the previous 10 and their only defeat over that stretch coming with a heavily rotated squad against Ivory Coast on Thursday.

France have only faced Northern Ireland on a trio of prior occasions, all of which came before the turn of the millennium and won all three, scoring nine goals and conceding just one.

After picking up nine points from their six matches in Europe's qualification Group A, Northern Ireland headed into March's playoff rounds only two matches away from a first World Cup finals appearance since 1986.

However, their absence from the competition will last at least another four years, as Michael O'Neill's men were beaten 2-0 at the hands of Italy, who then went on to lose against Bosnia & Herzegovina in the decisive fixture.

Despite this, there is plenty for Northern Ireland to be optimistic about, most of all how young a squad they have, with the Green and White Army fielding an 11 with the average age of 22.1 in Thursday's win against Guinea.

Following promotion from the UEFA Nations League third tier in November 2024, the visitors will be looking to give a good account of themselves against heavyweights France before tricky visits to Hungary, Ukraine and Georgia when the competition returns in September.

France form (all competitions):

Northern Ireland form (all competitions):

Team News

With William Saliba alongside a quintet of Paris Saint-Germain players featuring in last weekend's UEFA Champions League final, it is likely that Deschamps will hold off on giving any of them minutes from the start on Monday evening.

In their place, the likes of Ibrahima Konate, Maghnes Akilouche and Marcus Thuram could be given the platform to stake a claim for a starting spot in Les Bleus' World Cup opener.

Following positive performances against both Wales and Guinea, it is unlikely that O'Neill will make many changes to his starting lineup.

However, after picking up a straight red card on Thursday evening, Blackburn's Tom Atcheson will be suspended for Monday's match, meaning Trai Hume is likely to feature from the start.

France possible starting lineup:

Maignan; Kounde, Upamecano, Konate, L. Hernandez; Tchouameni, Akilouche, Cherki; Olise, Mbappe, Thuram

Northern Ireland possible starting lineup:

P.Charles; McConville, Hume, Brown; Smyth, McDonnell, S.Charles, Devenny; Donley, Price; Reid

We say: France 3-0 Northern Ireland

After some promising recent results, Northern Ireland will be eager to prove themselves against arguably the best side in the world.

Deschamps's men looked far from convincing against Ivory Coast, however we expect them to brush past the Green and White Army before heading to face Senegal at the MetLife Stadium next week.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.