Former champions France and Italy had been in motion amongst 10 qualifying matches for the 2026 Fifa World Cup on Friday.
Les Bleus met Ukraine in Wroclaw, whereas Azzurri legend Gennaro Gattuso took cost of his nationwide aspect for the primary time with a house match in opposition to Estonia in Bergamo.
Elsewhere, striker Alexander Isak – who joined Liverpool from Newcastle for a British-record £125 million on Monday – was in Sweden’s squad for his or her journey to Slovenia.
Right here’s what occurred within the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifying outcomes at this time, together with scorers and a few of the fixtures to look out for subsequent, which all kick off at 19:45 BST / 14:45 ET / 11:45 PT.
Ukraine vs France: Mbappe seals win
1998 and 2018 champions France began their marketing campaign with a 2-0 win courtesy of a medical Tenth-minute strike by Michael Olise earlier than Kylian Mbappe adopted swimsuit eight minutes from time.
Ukraine pushed for parity between the targets and had been denied a second-half equaliser when Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate cleared Artem Dovbyk’s header off the road.
Paris Saint-Germain forwards Want Doue and Ousmane Dembele had been pressured off by means of harm for the victors, who gave Reds striker Hugo Ekitike his senior debut and host Iceland on Tuesday.
Italy vs Estonia: Gattuso glee at successful begin
Dominant Italy hit the crossbar by means of Mateo Retegui’s header simply earlier than half-time however compensated in type, scoring 4 of their 5 second-half targets in a 5-0 win by means of headers from Moise Kean, Retegui, Giacomo Raspadori and Alessandro Bastoni.
Al-Qadsiah ahead Retegui additionally scored his first and his nation’s second with a exact end, placing the hosts three factors behind second-placed Italy and 6 shy of Group I leaders Norway with a match in hand.
Italy observe up their second consecutive residence win by visiting Israel, who gained 4-0 in Moldova, on Monday in Debrecen.
Slovenia vs Sweden: Isak in reserve
Isak is but to play this season due to the prolonged saga surrounding his move to the Reds and the striker remained on the bench as Sweden suffered a late setback in Slovenia.
Magpies winger Anthony Elanga struck the 18th-minute opener from a move by Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Yasin Ayari, who restored the guests’ lead within the 73rd minute after Sandi Lovric’s Forty sixth-minute equaliser due to a blunder by goalkeeper Robin Olsen.
Substitute Zan Vipotnik fired in first time from Manchester United striker Benjamin Sesko’s header to seal a 2-2 draw within the ninetieth minute. Blagult supervisor Jon Dahl Tomasson hinted he might use Isak away to Kosovo on Monday.
2026 World Cup qualifying outcomes
Group B: Switzerland 4-0 Kosovo (Manuel Akanji 22, Breel Embolo 25, 45, Sylvan Widmer 39)
Group C: Denmark 0-0 Scotland
Greece 5-1 Belarus (Konstantinos Karetsas 3, Vangelis Pavlidis 17, Tasos Bakasetas 21, Dimitrios Kourbelis 36, Christos Tzolis 63; German Barkovskiy 72)
Group D: Iceland 5-0 Azerbaijan (Victor Palsson 45, Isak Bergmann Johannesson 47, 56, Albert Gudmundsson 66, Kristian Hlynsson 73)
Group I: Moldova 0-4 Israel (Dor Peretz 15, Manor Solomon 35, Tai Baribo 59, Oscar Gloukh 77)
Group L: Faroe Islands 0-1 Croatia (Andrej Kramaric 31)
Montenegro 0-2 Czechia (Lukas Cerv 3, Vaclav Cerny 90+6)
