Ukraine vs. France live score: World Cup qualification result, updates, stats as Olise gives Les Bleus early lead

France begin their qualification campaign for the 2026 World Cup with a trip to Wroclaw, Poland to take on Ukraine.

Didier Deschamps' team are part of one of the four-team UEFA groups after taking part in the Nations League finals earlier this year.

Iceland and Azerbaijan complete the section, with the top team qualifying for next year's finals in North America automatically.

The runners-up will advance to the playoff phase.

The Sporting News is following the Ukraine vs. France match live, providing score updates and commentary

Latest live updates | Team news and lineups | Where to watch where you are

Ukraine vs. France score

Venue: Arena Wroclaw
Referee: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)

Confirmed lineups:

Ukraine (4-5-1, right to left): 12. Anatoliy Trubin (GK) — 2. Yukhym Konoplya, 13. Illia Zabarnyi, 22. Mykola Matviyenko, 17. Oleksandr Zinchenko— 20. Oleksandr Zubkov, 18. Yehor Yarmoliuk, 6. Ivan Kalyuzhnyi, 8. Georgiy Sudakov, 9. Oleksii Hutsuliak — 11. Artem Dovbyk

France (4-2-3-1, right to left): 16. Mike Maignan (GK) — 5. Jules Kounde, 4. Dayot Upamecano, 15. Ibrahima Konate, 3. Lucas Digne — 8. Aurelien Tchouameni, 13. Manu Kone — 11. Michael Olise, 12. Desire Doue, 20. Bradley Barcola — 10. Kylian Mbappe

MORE: Where do Ukraine play home games? Venue for soccer matches for 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying, friendlies

Ukraine vs. France live updates, highlights, and commentary

Halftime

France deal with the corner unfussily and that's a wrap for the half. The main plus for Ukraine is that they aren't further behind. Didier Deschamps' side have played some sparkling stuff but the long-serving head coach will be disappointed that there is only Olise's early opener to show for it.

45 mins: Dovbyk's been feeding off scraps all half but he brings a long ball down well (handball? No? Carry on!) and gets a shot off that Maignan turns behind.

41 mins: Mbappe leaves Matviyenko flat on his backside but scrambling Ukraine defenders force him wide and he can't pick out Doue or Olise with his cutback. Incredible this is still only 1-0.

36 mins: Doue cuts one back to Tchouameni but he snatches at the chance and drags wide.

32 mins: Olise and Mbappe combine irresistibly until Konoplya does well to, errrr, resist them.

31 mins: A rare Ukraine attack and Sudakov makes a beeline for the France box. Back comes Tchouameni to make the slide tackle with one of those telescopic legs.

29 mins: France overplay the attack a little before Doue gets his dancing feet going and Zinchenko makes the block. Trubin pouches the resulting corner from Olise.

22 mins: More rat-a-tat French passing before Mbappe slaps a shot over. Ukraine have a storm to ride out here with their visitors very much in the mood.

17 mins: Tremendous save from Trubin! Yarmoliuk is lackadaisical on the edge of his box as Ukraine deal with a cross from the left. Olise steals in and fires towards the right corner. Trubin turns around the post at full stretch as the net looks set to bulge.

10 mins: GOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLL!!!! Michael Olise!!!!!

Breakthrough for France and it's far too simple. Barcola sashays into the Ukraine box from the left, cuts the ball back and finds Olise in plenty of room to stroke home.

9 mins: Mbappe roves in from the left. So much movement and fluidity in this France forward line. Kounde joins the attack from right-back, can't find a way throgh a possession is worked to Doue. The PSG youngster sees his shot charged down.

6 mins: Ukraine bedding in with their 4-5-1 formation but they attack down the left here. Hutusuliak and Zinchenko have teasing crosses cleared by Upamecano in quick succession.

Kickoff: 1st Half

We're underway. France settle into some comfortable possession. The home fans boo, dispencing with the pre-match pleasantries.

5 mins before kickof: The teams are out. A stirring Ukrainian anthem, which retains its emotional resonance for obvious reasons.

30 mins before kickoff: So, this is a four-team group, one of six in the UEFA qualifying section. The other groups have five teams each and began their qualifying schedules in March. Teams such as France, that were involved in the later stages of the Nations League must now tackle this effective sprint format. Six matches, all wrapped up by November and only the top team going through automatically. A slip up tonight might be difficult to correct.

1 hour before kickoff: Oleksandr Zinchenko starts for Ukraine after making his deadline day loan move from Arsenal to Nottingham Forest. It looks like he'll be playing at left-back and not his usual international position in midfield.

1hr 30 mins before kickoff: The teams are in and it's a pretty sauce France lineup on paper. Michael Olise, Desire Doue and Bradley Barcola are all involved in support of Mbappe in attack. There's a place on the bench for Hugo Ekitike after he was called into the squad as an injury replacement. Ousmane Dembele is also among the replacements alongside Adrien Rabiot.

2 hours before kickoff. Hello and welcome to The Sporting News' live coverage of Ukraine vs. France in qualification for the 2026 World Cup. This is one of the four-team UEFA groups, so no time to ease into things. 

Ukraine vs. France kick off time

The World Cup qualifying match kicks off in Wroclaw, Poland at 8:45 p.m. local time.

Here's how that time translates across some of the major territories:

Ukraine vs. France lineups, team news

Ukraine are still playing designated home matches in Poland due to security concerns over competing in their regular base.

Head coach and former Ukraine international Serhiy Rebrov included several Premier League household names in his squad including Oleksandr Zinchenko, Vitaliy Mykolenko, and Yehor Yarmolyuk. However, Everton full-back Mykolenko had to withdraw due to injury. Zinchenko is deployed on the left of the back four as a result.

First-choice goalkeeper Andriy Lunin is not included with the Real Madrid man ruled out due to injury. Roma star Artem Dovbyk will lead the Ukraine attack, with Illia Zabarnyi — now at Paris Saint-Germain — anchoring the defence.

Ukraine (4-5-1, right to left): Trubin (GK) — Konoplya, Zabarnyi, Matviyenko, Zinchenko— Zubkov, Yarmoliuk, Kalyuzhnyi, Sudakov, Hutsuliak — Dovbyk

Ukraine subs: Bushchan (GK), Riznyk (GK), Mykhavko, Svatok, Bondar, Vanat, Shaparenko, Ocheretko, Mykhailichenko, Voloshyn, Bondarenko, Nazarenko

Deschamps was forced into a defensive change after Arsenal star William Saliba was ruled out with an ankle injury.

Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konate covers for Saliba's absence despite limping out of the win over Arsenal, with Real Madrid duo Eduardo Camavinga and Ferland Mendy out injured alongside Manchester City playmaker Rayan Cherki.

Desire Doue, Michael Olise and Bradley Barcola all start in support of Kylian Mbappe in an all-star attack. 

France starting XI (4-2-3-1, right to left): Maignan (GK) — Kounde, Upamecano, Konate, Digne —    Tchouameni, Kone — Olise, Doue, Barcola — Mbappe

France subs: Samba (GK), Chevalier (GK), Pavard, K. Thuram, Dembele, M. Thuram, Rabiot, Gusto , Akliouche, Ekitike, L. Hernandez, T. Hernandez

Ukraine vs. France live stream, TV channel

Here is how to watch the match in some of the world's major regions: