France — Morocco: the way to the 2026 World Cup, what time to watch, history of meetings

The national teams of France and Morocco will meet in the 1/4 finals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The match will take place on July 9 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough (USA) and will start at 23:00 Moscow time. The winner of the match will advance to the semifinals of the tournament.

France's path to the 2026 World Cup

Didier Deschamps' national team confidently passed the group stage, taking first place in Group I. The French consistently beat Senegal, Iraq and Norway, demonstrating a balanced game and one of the most reliable defenses of the tournament. In the 1/16 finals, the team beat Sweden (3:0), and in the 1/8 finals had a tense match with Paraguay, winning thanks to Kylian Mbappe's goal from the penalty spot (1:0). Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Michael Oliset, Aurelien Tchuameni, William Saliba and Mike Menyan remain the leaders of the team.

Morocco's path to the 2026 World Cup

The Moroccans have become one of the brightest teams in the current World Cup. In the group stage, Mohamed Wahbi's team reached the playoffs from second place, after which they eliminated the Netherlands in the 1/16 finals in a penalty shootout. In the next round, the Moroccan national team beat Canada 3-0, advancing to the quarterfinals of the World Championship. The key figures of the team remain Ashraf Hakimi, Yasin Bunu, Sofyan Amrabat, Braim Diaz and Bilal El-Hannouss. At the same time, before the match with France, the Moroccans lost one of their leaders, Ismael Saibari, who dropped out due to injury.

The main match of the summer: what to expect from the 2026 FIFA World Cup final

Most experts call France the main favorite of the 2026 World Cup

Previous meetings between Morocco and France

The history of the confrontation between France and Morocco has several dozen matches, but the most memorable is the meeting in the semifinals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Then the French won 2-0 and advanced to the final of the tournament. For Morocco, that match was the end of a historic performance — the team was the first among the African national teams to reach the semi-finals of the world championship.