France could secure their spot at the 2026 World Cup on Monday night if they are able to beat Iceland in this World Cup Qualifier, which kicks off at 7.45pm BST at Laugardalsvollur. Les Bleus have picked up the maximum nine points from their three qualifiers so far.
| Our Prediction | Odds & Bookmaker | Confidence | Why We’re Backing It |
|---|---|---|---|
| France to win & BTTS | 7/4 @ Bet365 (36.63%) | ⭐⭐⭐ | Iceland have won just one of their three qualifiers so far, despite scoring nine goals. They were able to get on the scoresheet in the reverse fixture in Paris back in September, before eventually falling to a 2-1 defeat. In their Friday night fixture, they found the net three times despite falling to defeat at home to Ukraine. |
| Kylian Mbappe to score first | 2/1 @ Betfred (33.34%) | ⭐⭐ | Kylian Mbappe has scored in all three of France’s World Cup qualifiers so far, opening the scoring in the last two games. The Real Madrid forward already has 53 goals to his name for his country, from 93 appearances. |
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How both teams go into Iceland vs France
Iceland have qualified for the World Cup on just one previous occasion in 2018, but they have some work to do if they’re to qualify for a second time as they’ve won just one of their three qualifiers for the 2026 tournament so far.
After easing to a 5-0 win over Azerbaijan on Matchday One, Strakarnir Okkar were perhaps a little unfortunate to only narrowly lose to France in their second game. Against Ukraine on Friday night in arguably the most important match of their campaign so far with second place still up for grabs, they succumbed to a 3-5 defeat. That was made all the more disappointing by the fact they had come back to draw level at 3-3 despite going down 3-1 in the first half.
France are enjoying a comfortable qualifying campaign so far, winning all three of their games with few issues. In fact, the most difficult game they’ve faced so far was in the reverse of this fixture, where they came back from Andri Gudjohnsen’s opener to win 2-1 thanks to goals from Kylian Mbappe and Bradley Barcola.
Les Bleus opened their campaign with a 0-2 victory over Ukraine in Poland and continued their perfect start on Friday night with a 3-0 win over Azerbaijan thanks to goals from Kylian Mbappe, Adrien Rabiot and Florian Thauvin.
France team news
France remain without Aurelien Tchouameni as he misses the second game of his two-game ban for the red card he received in the reverse fixture in Paris last month. Bradley Barcola, Marcus Thuram and Ousmane Dembele are all missing through injury but les Bleus can still call upon the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise and Hugo Ekitike in the final third.
Iceland team news
Defenders Hlynur Freyr Karlsson and Kolbeinn Finnsson have missed out on this Iceland squad through injury as well as Malmo midfielder Arnor Sigurdsson. The biggest miss however for boss Arnar Gunnlaugsson will be skipper Orri Óskarsson, who hasn’t played for his club Real Sociedad since August but who scored in each of his last two outings for his country, both back in the March international break.
Iceland vs France Head-to-Head
| 03 Jul 2016 | France 5-2 Iceland | UEFA European Championship |
| 11 Oct 2018 | France 2-2 Iceland | International Friendly |
| 25 Mar 2019 | France 4-0 Iceland | UEFA European Championship |
| 11 Oct 2019 | Iceland 0-1 France | UEFA European Championship |
| 09 Sep 2025 | France 2-1 Iceland | FIFA World Cup |
Conclusion
France’s qualification looks like it’s a matter of when not if as they sit on three wins from three, with a five point gap over second place and only three games remaining. Given that they’ve never lost in their 16 previous meetings with Iceland, they’ll expect to make it four from four here, even if they’re likely to concede given that Strakarnir Okkar have looked threatening in front of goal all season.
Kylian Mbappe is always the main goal threat for les Bleus however and having opened the scoring in his nation’s last two games to take his international tally to 53 goals, he’ll be confident of getting another goal in this game on Monday night.