Who: France vs Italy What: UEFA Nations League 2026-27, Group A1 match Where: Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France When: Friday, October 2, at 8:45pm local time ( ) How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will bring you all the build-up and live updates from . It’s time for Zinedine Zidane’s homecoming. Two-time world champions France face neighbours Italy in Friday’s Nations League match, with Zidane taking charge for the first time on home soil.
Appointed in late July as successor to Didier Deschamps, ex-captain Zidane has guided France to back-to-back away wins. Now he has the chance to complete a hat-trick of victories in front of Les Bleus faithful. Despite losing captain Kylian Mbappe to injury, France have maintained their winning start, all thanks to their squad depth and talent across positions.
Like France, four-time World Cup winners Italy are also managed by a former player – Roberto Mancini – who is back in the job for the second time. Mancini’s first game back in charge ended in Roman jeers, but the Azzurri responded in style with an emphatic win in their second game. Friday’s match is expected to be played in front of what will be a sell-out crowd of close to 80,000 fans at the national stadium north of Paris.
So, can Italy build on their dazzling display or will France give Zidane more reasons to rejoice? Al Jazeera breaks down everything in this match preview: The UEFA Nations League was founded in 2018 to reduce the number of meaningless friendlies and give nations competitive matches against top-ranked teams. In this competition, countries from across Europe participate in a league structure which features promotion and relegation.
France are on top of this group with six points after identical 1-0 wins over Turkiye and Belgium. Italy, on the other hand, are second-to-last with three points after losing 2-0 to Belgium and thrashing Turkiye 4-1. They last met in a Nations League group match in November 2024.
France defeated Italy 3-1 in Milan then, with a double from Adrien Rabiot and a Guglielmo Vicario own goal. Andrea Cambiaso netted the consolation goal for the Italians. Michael Olise and Desire Doue (France): Olise’s outrageous finish in Monday’s Belgium game had Zidane going berserk on the sideline.
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