World Cup 2026 Group I sees one of the World Cup big shots in France, who looked primed to win the tournament all going well. It also features another recent tournament winner in Senegal, although they didn’t get to keep the trophy. Norway has a dark horse status mainly because they have the best goal scorer on earth playing for them, and they did rack up 37 goals in eight qualifying games on their way here. While our ratings below has Norway as losing to both Senegal and France, our Ratings don’t cover all of what Erling Haaland can do. Iraq were one of the last teams to qualify, having withstood the drawn out process that is Asian World Cup qualifying, then beat the UAE in the final play off. This is only their second World Cup but they are looking for their first win, after losing all games last time they qualified.
FIXTURES
| Match |
AEST Day |
Date |
AEST Time |
Team1 |
Team2 |
Ground |
Location |
Result |
| 17 |
Wednesday |
Jun-16 |
5:00 |
France |
Senegal |
MetLife Stadium |
East Rutherford |
|
| 18 |
Wednesday |
Jun-16 |
8:00 |
Iraq |
Norway |
Gillette Stadium |
Foxborough |
|
| 42 |
Tuesday |
Jun-22 |
7:00 |
France |
Iraq |
Lincoln Financial Field |
Philadelphia |
|
| 41 |
Tuesday |
Jun-22 |
10:00 |
Norway |
Senegal |
MetLife Stadium |
East Rutherford |
|
| 61 |
Saturday |
Jun-26 |
5:00 |
Norway |
France |
Gillette Stadium |
Foxborough |
|
| 62 |
Saturday |
Jun-26 |
5:00 |
Senegal |
Iraq |
BMO Field |
Toronto |
|
GROUP STATS
| Team |
Method of qualification |
Date of qualification |
Total WC Appearances |
Previous World Cup |
Previous best effort |
| Senegal |
CAF Group B winners |
14/10/2025 |
4 |
2022 |
Quarter-finals (2002) |
| France |
UEFA Group D winners |
13/11/2025 |
18 |
2022 |
Winners (1998, 2018) |
| Norway |
UEFA Group I winners |
16/11/2025 |
4 |
1998 |
Round of 16 (1998) |
| Iraq |
Inter-confederation Pathway 2 play-off winners |
31/03/2026 |
2 |
1986 |
Group stage (1986) |
PREDICTIONS
Here’s where we put our money where our mouth is. Using all of the stats below and more, we have developed a H2H win rating for both teams for all Group Stage games. If the rating is within 5% of each other we’re calling a draw, otherwise the higher the rating the more likely to win. From there we come up with our prediction on the final table. All of that is available below for following, arguing or ignoring. We welcome any.
H2H MATCH RATINGS
| Match |
Team1 |
Ratings |
Team2 |
Ratings |
Match Prediction |
| 17 |
France |
53.0% |
Senegal |
47.0% |
France |
| 18 |
Iraq |
39.6% |
Norway |
60.4% |
Norway |
| 42 |
France |
70.3% |
Iraq |
29.7% |
France |
| 41 |
Norway |
45.2% |
Senegal |
54.8% |
Senegal |
| 61 |
Norway |
39.8% |
France |
60.2% |
France |
| 62 |
Senegal |
62.5% |
Iraq |
37.5% |
Senegal |
FINAL TABLE PREDICTION
| Team |
Pts |
| France |
9 |
| Senegal |
6 |
| Norway |
3 |
| Iraq |
0 |
GENERAL STATS
