France drops from FIFA rankings despite victory

Despite their 3-1 win over Northern Ireland, France have dropped down the FIFA rankings. 

The contributing factor to this drop is their 2-1 defeat to Ivory Coast in an international friendly ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Didier Deschamps’ men are now third in the latest rankings, as current world champions Argentina are now the top-seeded team, with defending Euros champions Spain right behind them.

Thursday’s defeat ended France’s four-match winning run. Before that, they hadn’t lost since the Spaniards beat them 5-4 in the 2025 UEFA Nations League semi-finals. 

The last time they lost a game before Thursday was against a non-UEFA nation, Tunisia, which beat them 1-0 in the final group fixture for both teams at the 2022 World Cup. 

Les Bleus then recovered from that loss and made it all the way to the final, where they lost to Argentina on penalties.

Based on the history of the FIFA ranking, which began in 1993, no side has ever lifted the Jules Rimet trophy while holding the number one spot before the start of the finals. 

This might be a good thing for France, as Brazil won the 2002 edition, having been named the top-ranked team on June 1, the day after the World Cup began. 

France will open the 2026 World Cup campaign against  Senegal on June 16, the same team that beat them 1-0 to open the 2002 World Cup.

They will then play Iraq and Norway in Group I of the tournament.

Les Bleus will be hoping to make it to the final again. If such fear is achieved, they will be making it into the final for the third time in a row, a record that will show their consistency at the top echelon of the game.

They will hope to make it past the group stage and see what the knockout stage has in store for them before even thinking of the finals.