France made it to the World Cup semi-finals before being beaten by Spain. They'll now aim to have a successful Nations League campaign ahead of Euro 2028. They've been handed a winnable opener in Turkey, with the bookies making Les Bleus strong favourites to get the job done in Izmit. Zinedine Zidane takes charge for the first time and he'll want his side to hit the ground running.
The Turks are huge outsiders to land a victory and they will hope to make home advantage count. It was a miserable World Cup campaign which saw them bow out of the group stage after suffering defeats against Australia and Paraguay. Vincenzo Montella remains in charge of the national side despite that disappointment and will aim to turn things around.
Turkey v France Betting Markets
France have a very strong chance of winning this Nations League clash according to the latest odds. Les Bleus are trading at around the 1.50 mark which suggests that they have a 66% chance of claiming a victory. Some might feel that price is too short for a number of reasons. Firstly, Didier Deschamps has finally stood down as manager and it might take a while for Zinedine Zidane to get his feet under the table.
Zidane's coaching career is largely limited to a spell with Real Madrid although he has taken charge of France international youth sides and clearly commands the respect of the players. It may be that an experimental line-up is fielded for what will be the first of four clashes that take place for each country over the international break.
Nevertheless, France will be a warm order and a popular accumulator selection when it comes to this game. They came into the 2026 World Cup as strong favourites and cruised through the group stage before overcoming Sweden, Paraguay and Morocco. Although they were found wanting against Spain, this was after a six-game winning run which speaks volumes for their calibre.
It's a game that are accustomed to winning and they have world-class players in all departments. The same can't be said of Turkey who are perennial underachievers at tournaments when they actually qualify for them. They went into their opening match of the 2026 World Cup as favourites to beat Australia before succumbing to a 2-0 reverse.
They were then overturned by Paraguay and a 3-2 success against the United States was neither here nor there in the end. Vincenzo Montella now has the difficult task of trying to engineer a positive result against one of the best teams in international football. It will be interesting to see how they approach the game.
Goals Under/Over
We know that France have the ability to cover the 2.5 goal line all by themselves. The first four matches of the World Cup saw Les Bleus register at least three goals, with Paraguay and Spain putting the brakes on their scoring. There are so many quality attacking players, with Zidane likely to favour a free-scoring approach that is spearheaded by Kylian Mbappe.
There's little to suggest that Turkey have the defensive knowhow to keep things tight against such formidable opponents, although they will have noted how England put an incredible six goals past the French in a World Cup play-off match. However, there's the plain fact that they were demolished 6-0 at home to Spain in World Cup qualification.
We think it's a game where France can run riot if they are anything close to full strength and Zidane will be happy for the front four to collectively organise themselves and destroy.
BTTS
It looks heavily likely that France will find the net when the two teams clash on Friday 25 September. Although Les Bleus were thwarted by Spain in the World Cup semi-final, that ended a huge run of fixtures where Deschamps' side found the net. Therefore, we can expect them to return to the scoring trail after putting four goals past England in the third placed play-off.
The biggest question is whether Turkey have the capacity to find the net against Les Bleus. They may not be able to create too many clear-cut chances and may also spend a good deal of the match without the ball. There's the fact that Montella's side drew a blank in two of their three World Cup group games and we can't read as much into a 3-2 win against a relaxed United States outfit.
The same applies to the 2-2 draw in Spain when La Roja had already sealed qualification to the World Cup and we would put more emphasis on the 6-0 home reverse that they endured against the world champions. When we look at France's World Cup qualification campaign, they only conceded four goals across six games so we're leaning ever so slightly towards the BTTS No odds.
First Goalscorer
Kylian Mbappe scored an excellent ten goals in the World Cup and the Real Madrid star may get the chance to bolster his international tally in this game. The 27-year-old has notched sixty-six times in his 106 appearances and Les Bleus captain is likely to play the majority of this clash before potentially being rested for the second game.
Mbappe is definitely worth considering when it comes to Bet Builders for this game and you could do worse than bet him to score two or more goals. However, he's only one of several players that can find the net for the visitors. Ousmane Dembele has six goals on the board from the World Cup and the PSG star is someone who can get into great scoring positions.
Desire Doue could be a quality operator if given the chance and the Paris Saint-Germain player was favoured by Deschamps in the World Cup. Bradley Barcola has completed a recent big money move to Liverpool and might be given the chance to shine, with Michael Olise the Bayern Munich star that likes to operate in the central attacking midfield role.
