{"id":487434,"date":"2025-10-10T04:35:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T04:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/487434\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T04:35:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T04:35:17","slug":"france-vs-azerbaijan-world-cup-qualifier-tv-info-prediction-team-news-lineups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/487434\/","title":{"rendered":"France vs Azerbaijan – World Cup qualifier: TV info, prediction, team news & lineups"},"content":{"rendered":"

These two nations have met only twice before, this coming in Euro ’96 qualifying, with France <\/a>winning both 2-0 in Trabzon and then 10-0 at Stade de l’Abb\u00e9-Deschamps in Auxerre, which remains les Bleus’ second-biggest margin of victory of all-time. <\/p>\n

France vs Azerbaijan preview<\/p>\n

Will France <\/a>continue their perfect start to World Cup qualification? <\/a>Last month, Didier Deschamps’ side commenced this campaign by beating Ukraine 2-0 in Wroc\u0142aw, thanks to goals from Michael Olise and then Kylian Mbapp\u00e9. Four nights later, their clash with Iceland in Paris proved to be more challenging than most would’ve forecast. The visitors took a shock lead, only for quick-fire goals either side of half time from Mbapp\u00e9 and Bradley Barcola to restore order, albeit a red card shown to Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni soon after meant they were rather hanging on by the end.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, les Bleus have now won 20 of their last 25 qualification fixtures, their most recent defeat coming against T\u00fcrkiye in June 2019. Thus, France have featured at every Euros since ’88 and every World Cup since USA ’94. Having won the trophy in Russia and been a penalty shootout away from retaining it in Qatar, should they be in North America next summer, les Bleus will be among the favourites to go all the way again, so will they make it three wins out of three in qualifying?<\/p>\n

\"FBL-WC-2026-EUR-QUALIFIERS-FRA-ISL\"<\/p>\n

FBL-WC-2026-EUR-QUALIFIERS-FRA-ISL | FRANCK FIFE\/GettyImages<\/p>\n

As for Azerbaijan, the fact they were relegated to UEFA Nations League D last year, the competition’s bottom-tier, underlines their minnow status. To commence this campaign, they were hammered 5-0 by Iceland in Reykjav\u00edk, a result that saw Fernando Santos sacked; he was the Portugal manager when his team beat France in the final of Euro 2016, so this is quite the fall from grace. <\/p>\n

Under caretaker Aykhan Abbasov, Azerbaijan held Ukraine to a shock 1-1 draw in Bak\u0131 four days later, with Emin Mahmudov’s second half penalty earning a share of the spoils. Nevertheless, this extends their winless streak to 12 matches, only managing to beat Mongolia and Kazakhstan in friendlies in the last two years. When looking at qualifiers only, Azerbaijan have won only three of their last 34 outings, losing 26 of them; Sweden, Estonia and San Marino the only nations they’ve managed to beat since September 2016. That records is not likely to improve in Paris on Friday. <\/p>\n

France vs Azerbaijan head-to-head record<\/p>\n