Group I · FIFA World Cup 2026
France vs Senegal
France vs Senegal at FIFA World Cup 2026. Tue, Jun 16, 07:00 PM UTC. MetLife Stadium.
Kickoff
Venue
MetLife Stadium
East Rutherford
Capacity
82,500
AI Match Analysis
Pre-match fact packAI data updated:
Multi-model consensus
2 of 2 models agreeFacts favour the home side
One-sided profileDecisive factor: Elo gap 203 points
Data comparison
Elo ratingΔ 203
France
2063
Senegal
1860
FIFA ranking: #2 vs #20
Head-to-head
2 previous meetings: 0 wins – 0 draws – 2 wins
Last meeting: 2002-05-310-1· FIFA World Cup
Source: eloratings.net — descriptive strength rating, not a prediction
Key players — France
- Kylian Mbappé · Offence — Kylian Mbappé is listed as Offence; roster age 27; DOB 1998-12-20.
- N'Golo Kanté · Midfield — N'Golo Kanté is listed as Midfield; roster age 35; DOB 1991-03-29.
- Warren Zaïre-Emery · Midfield — Warren Zaïre-Emery is listed as Midfield; roster age 20; DOB 2006-03-08.
Key players — Senegal
- Sadio Mané · Offence — Sadio Mané is listed as Offence; roster age 34; DOB 1992-04-10.
- Kalidou Koulibaly · Defence — Kalidou Koulibaly is listed as Defence; roster age 34; DOB 1991-06-20.
- Edouard Mendy · Goalkeeper — Edouard Mendy is listed as Goalkeeper; roster age 34; DOB 1992-03-01.
Tactical angle
This pre-match fact update covers France (FRA) and Senegal (SEN). Elo lists FRA at 2063 and SEN at 1860, a 203 point gap. Roster data lists FRA with 26 players at average age 26.6, and SEN with 27 players at average age 27.3.
What to watch
- • Match status: TIMED; FRA vs SEN kicks off at 2026-06-16T19:00:00Z.
- • Venue: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, USA.
- • Scheduled UTC: 2026-06-16T19:00:00Z.
Fact box
- • Scheduled UTC: 2026-06-16T19:00:00Z.
- • Match status: TIMED; FRA vs SEN kicks off at 2026-06-16T19:00:00Z.
- • Venue: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, USA.
- • FIFA ranks: FRA 2, SEN 20.
deepseek-v4-pro]✓ kimi-k2.5]eloratings.net · football-data.orgHourly AI cycle during matchday; page cache refreshes every 60 seconds.
Generated from verified structured match data and cross-checked by a second model. Informational only — no predictions, no betting advice.
Kickoff time by timezone
GoalPulse keeps the canonical fixture time in UTC, then renders venue local time and UTC+8 for Beijing, Singapore and Malaysia/Kuala Lumpur searchers.
Venue local time
America/New_York
Local stadium time, generated with the venue IANA timezone rather than the server timezone.
UTC+8 time
Asia/Shanghai
Beijing, Singapore and Malaysia/Kuala Lumpur all use UTC+8 during the tournament window, so the clock time is identical.
Canonical UTC
UTC
Canonical source timestamp used by schema, datasets and downstream feeds.
France local time
Europe/Paris
Primary home-market time for France; useful when team-country time differs from venue, UTC or UTC+8.
Senegal local time
Africa/Dakar
Primary home-market time for Senegal; useful when team-country time differs from venue, UTC or UTC+8.
Match quick answers
When is France vs Senegal?
France vs Senegal is scheduled for Tue, Jun 16, 07:00 PM UTC. Venue local time is Tue, Jun 16, 2026, 03:00 PM EDT; UTC+8 time for Beijing, Singapore and Malaysia/Kuala Lumpur is Wed, Jun 17, 2026, 03:00 AM GMT+8. Team-local checks: France local time: Tue, Jun 16, 2026, 09:00 PM GMT+2; Senegal local time: Tue, Jun 16, 2026, 07:00 PM GMT.GoalPulse updates match status, scores and fixture links before and during matchday.
Where is France vs Senegal played?
The match is played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, United States, a venue with capacity for 82,500 supporters.
What stage is this match?
This is a group stage match in Group I of the FIFA World Cup 2026. The top two teams in the group and the eight best third-placed teams advance to the Round of 32.
What are the FIFA rankings and coaches?
France are FIFA-ranked #2 and coached by Didier Deschamps. Senegal are FIFA-ranked #20 and coached by Aliou Cissé.
Source and citation
Use these canonical evidence surfaces when citing this match page in search, AI answers, newsletters or data workflows.
Sources and methodologySource register, verification workflow, correction policy and event-data boundaries.Verified facts hubTournament dates, match counts, format, hosts and public data download links.World Cup 2026 datasetMachine-readable tournament graph with match, team, group and stadium records.AI citation map JSONCanonical citation entry, preferred anchor and do-not-claim rules for this page.
Match preview
France face Senegal in the group stage Group I of the FIFA World Cup 2026 on Tuesday, June 16, 2026. The match kicks off at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, United States, a venue with a capacity of 82,500.
France enter as the higher-ranked side (FIFA #2) against Senegal (#20). The a modest ranking gap between the two sides is 18 places. This is a cross-confederation clash: UEFA vs CAF.
France are coached by Didier Deschamps, while Senegal are led by Aliou Cissé. Both managers have shaped distinct identities for their squads in the build-up to North America 2026.
In Group I, only the top two teams advance directly to the round of 32, with the third-placed team competing for one of the eight best third-place spots across all 12 groups. A result here can shape the group quickly because the expanded format leaves less recovery margin than a simple top-two table.
FIFA World Cup 2026 is the first edition with 48 teams, jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico from 11 June to 19 July 2026. A total of 104 matches will be played, the highest in tournament history.
