Five players targeting France debuts in 2026
France are likely to welcome new faces over the coming year. FIFA highlights five promising youngsters who could make a Les Bleus debut.
The French national team will begin a new era following the FIFA World Cup 2026
A new coach will take over from Didier Deschamps after 14 years in charge
FIFA singles out five players vying to earn senior call-up over the next 12 months
Didier Deschamps is set to vacate the France hotseat following the FIFA World Cup 2026™ in North America, by when he will have devoted 14 years of loyal service to the national team, and a new tactician will then take over the reins. FIFA has identified five talented youngsters who have a strong chance of receiving their first France cap in 2026.
Combining technical quality and intelligence, Bouaddi has all the attributes required to become a future star on the international stage. Remarkably experienced for his age, the 18-year-old is now an undisputed starter for Bruno Genesio’s Lille side, who currently sit in the top five in Ligue 1, with the midfielder born in Senlis (just north of Paris) showing himself to be in his element at this level.
As well as being technically gifted, Bouaddi is academically accomplished. He took his school leaving assessment (the baccalaureate) a year earlier than normal, at the age of 16, and passed with distinction, while he is currently pursuing a degree in maths remotely alongside his football career. “It’s a way of taking my mind off the game, not getting bogged down in it all the time and broadening my horizons,” he told L’Équipe.
On the pitch, meanwhile, Bouaddi registered his 20th European appearance in early December against Young Boys. Despite receiving a first half red card in that contest, nothing appears capable of stopping a player who already has eight caps for France’s U-21s and who opened his goalscoring account in a 6-0 demolition against the Faroe Islands on 10 October. Having long been marked out by many – including FIFA.com – as a future household name for Les Bleus, his path to the senior team now looks more clearly mapped out than ever before.
There is no doubt that Yoro has the potential to be brought into the fold alongside the likes of William Saliba, Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konate at the heart of the France defence one day. Born in the Paris suburbs and developed at Lille, Yoro joined Manchester United in July 2024 for a hefty EUR 60 million fee. However, the centre-back started only 12 Premier League matches in his debut season with the Red Devils, largely due to a serious injury that kept him sidelined for more than four months.
This term, on the other hand, the 1.90m (6’2) defender has featured in each of Ruben Amorim’s side’s first 18 league fixtures, starting 11 of them. Yoro is progressing day by day and has emerged as a mainstay for France U-21s, where Gerald Baticle has particularly high expectations for him. “He’s an exemplary leader and he embraces that responsibility within the group,” the Bleuets coach told L’Équipe this past November. If he continues to deliver solid performances in arguably the world’s strongest league, there is little doubt that Deschamps’ successor will give him his chance at senior level.
A Paris Saint-Germain academy graduate, Odobert is now thriving at Spurs, whom he joined from Burnley after kicking off his professional career with Troyes in 2022. The striker has been serving up a string of convincing performances for the London outfit, with whom he notably won the UEFA Europa League in May 2025. A regular presence in the UEFA Champions League this season, in which he has started four of his side’s six matches and came off the bench in one other, the attacker bagged his first goal in Europe’s premier club competition in a convincing 4-0 win against FC Copenhagen in early November.
While his action in the Premier League has been more limited since the switch to Tottenham, that has not prevented the forward from progressing at speed alongside some of the very best players in the world. Just like Yoro, Odobert is a key component of Baticle’s U-21s, for whom he has repeatedly made his mark, marrying end product – five goals in 16 appearances – with his natural pace and power. He notably notched a brace in a 6-1 drubbing of Estonia in mid-October. “Wilson is a leader on the pitch thanks to his technical ability,” said Baticle. “He brings energy on the ball – including with his passing – and through his movement.”
Named Ligue 2 Player of the Season after topping the scoring charts with 22 goals, Junior Kroupi enjoyed an outstanding 2024-25 campaign with Lorient. On the strength of those exploits, the highly sought-after forward left his boyhood club for the Premier League in order to test himself at Europe’s elite level, completing a move to Bournemouth that had been agreed back in February. “I was ready to dig deep,” he admitted in an interview with AFP.
After a settling-in period, the Brittany-born teenager appears to have hit his stride. Between October and mid-December, he registered four goals in eight Premier League appearances for the Cherries, including the equaliser in a thrilling 4-4 stalemate away to Manchester United on 15 December. Also prolific with the U-21s, having racked up three goals in just five caps, Kroupi is gradually establishing himself as a vital cog in Baticle’s system and is ready to carve out a route towards the senior side. “He’s got character: he knows where he wants to get to and he doesn’t doubt himself,” said the Bleuets coach.
Helped by his versatility, Mayulu has kicked on this term to confound expectations and nail down a place in Paris Saint-Germain’s starting line-up somewhat ahead of schedule. This comes off the back of an encouraging previous campaign in which the precocious PSG youth product proved himself to be a man for the big occasion, including a goal to complete the 5-0 rout of Inter in the Champions League final. A couple of weeks later, Mayulu was once again among the goals in a 4-0 victory over Atletico Madrid at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ in Los Angeles. “I love him as a player,” his coach Luis Enrique often says. “It’s like watching a veteran. He gives us so much,” added team-mate Fabian Ruiz.
Deployed as a false 9, as an attacking midfielder or in a box-to-box role, the teenager is a genuine all-rounder. With two goals and two assists in the league this season, plus the equaliser in the statement 2-1 Champions League win away to Barcelona on 1 October, his progress shows no sign of slowing. Baticle called Mayulu up to the U-21s for the first time in November. If he continues on this trajectory, there is little doubt that he will be one of the new faces in France’s post-World Cup 2026 era.