Category World News

Ukraine vs France: World Cup qualifiers – teams, start, lineups

By in News, World News

Who: France vs. Ukraine
What: UEFA qualifiers for 2026 FIFA World Cup
Where: Tarczynski Arena Wroclaw in Wroclaw, Poland
When: Friday, September 5, at 8:45pm (19:45 GMT)

Following is how we’ll prepare for our live text commentary stream on Al Jazeera Sport starting at 5:30 p.m. (16:45 GMT).

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemsend of list

The next two weeks of 11-weeks of preparation for the 2026 World Cup will be the focus of European football, with each game involving six games each helping determine who will win.

54 teams are participating in the European qualifying program, but 24 of them are just making their first kickoff on the first day of action on the biggest stage of football, the United States, Canada, and Mexico, which will start the following year on June 11.

Les Bleus’ first game of the competition since losing an epic final to Argentina in December 2022 at the Qatar World Cup, France, the 2018 World Cup winner, kicks off its qualifying campaign for the 2026 edition against Ukraine.

Al Jazeera Sport examines the matchup between Ukraine and France and explains why so many teams are preparing to play until 2020.

Why is Poland hosting the Ukraine vs. France game?

Due to security concerns raised by the Russian military invasion, Ukraine will host the game in neutral Poland, Wroclaw.

FIFA and UEFA forbade Russia’s teams from competing in all international competitions in February 2022, the year the conflict broke out.

Why has France not yet qualified for the World Cup?

Due to the success of some of the top seeds in the 2025 Nations League, which culminated in June, France and 23 other teams are only currently enrolled in the World Cup qualifying program.

Portugal won the tournament’s 2025 final against Spain, winning 5-3 on penalties in the final.

Portugal defeated Germany in the semifinal while Spain defeated France. The rest of the qualifiers for the later stages of that competition are currently only qualifying for the World Cup.

Desire Doue, left, is a recent addition to the new generation of French stars. [Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters]

Who else belongs to the group in Ukraine and France?

The UEFA World Cup Qualifiers’ Group D is completed by Iceland and Azerbaijan.

How do France, Portugal, and the other teams that are now enlisting in the qualifiers operate?

In preparation for the 2026 World Cup, five teams from each of the six groups are currently participating. There have already been four games played.

Each of the remaining six groups, which now includes four teams, are now in contention.

The 12 runners-up advance to the playoffs, where they will face the four best-placed Nations League teams that are currently in contention, while the top 12 teams advance directly to the finals of the summer.

Click here for a detailed explanation of the format of the playoffs’ format in our preview of Wednesday’s opening set of qualifying games.

What does France think about enlisting in the qualification right away?

Jules Kounde, a France defender, has demanded that football’s increasingly congested calendar be revised. He warns that the sport’s excessive schedule is having an impact on both players and the wider ecosystem.

Kounde said the unbroken pace of the games was weighing on ahead of France’s games against Ukraine and Iceland, which France hosts on Wednesday in Paris.

He asserted that “it’s not just about the players.” Families exist there. I also consider all the workers who frequently fall victim to this unflagging pace in the field of football.

France's Kylian Mbappe and Jules Kounde
Jules Kounde, left, and Mbappe, France’s left, celebrate after their Nations League quarterfinal defeat the Netherlands in March [Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters]

Kounde, a Barcelona player, did not participate in this year’s expanded FIFA Club World Cup, which took place in the United States on June 14 and 14, but the 26-year-old did make some hints about how the event might affect the already packed season.

Rayan Cherki of Manchester City and William Saliba of Arsenal both have injured themselves, and Ousmane Dembele of Paris Saint-Germain missed Tuesday’s training due to a thigh injury.

In the 2024-2025 season, PSG played 65 games and reached the Club World Cup final.

He claimed that the ecosystem is “a whole”.

“Sometimes in life, we stop appreciating things when we overdo them,” said the author. We no longer give it the same importance as when we see too much. Football is experiencing overconsumption, according to the statement.

63 matches were added to the summer schedule thanks to the 32-team Club World Cup, which was met with criticism from the teams and the teams due to the increased workload.

Kounde urged football’s governing bodies to consider the current model’s long-term viability.

He said, “These are things that we need to put into perspective.” And I believe there must be some changes.

Head-to-head

France has won six games against the nations in their 13th meeting, while Ukraine only has once.

What took place during the most recent Ukraine-France game?

The last time the two teams met in a World Cup qualifier was in Kyiv in September 2021, when the game ended 1-1 draw.

Anthony Martial levelled for the French after Mykola Shaparenko gave the hosts the lead.

In Paris, the group’s reverse match ended in a 1-1 draw.

news from the Ukraine team

Anatoliy Trubin begins in goal after Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin is injured.

Oleksandr Tymchyk, a late starter due to a knock, is now out of the squad.

News from the France team

In Sunday’s defeat at Liverpool, Arsenal’s defender Saliba injured his right calf.

Cherki, who was replaced by Eintract Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitike, also had to be forced to leave.

Dembele is anticipated to recover from his thigh issue.

Ukraine might start.

Trubin, Konoplya, Zabarnyi, Matviienko, Mykolenko, Kaliuzhny, Zinchenko, Tsygankov, Shaparenko, Sudakov, Dovbyk, and others

Possible starting lineup for France

DR Congo announces new Ebola outbreak

By in News, World News

After health officials in the southern Kasai province confirmed a case, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is in the midst of a new Ebola outbreak.

The country’s suspected case count now stands at 28, with 15 deaths, according to a report released on Thursday by the Ministry of Health, which was made public by a 34-year-old pregnant woman.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

At a press conference in the capital Kinshasa, Health Minister Roger Kamba stated that “these figures are provisional because investigations are still being conducted.”

The Bulape and Mweka areas of Kasai province have been the victims of the outbreak, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) report. Patients show typical Ebola symptoms, including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and hemorrhaging, respectively.

“Aging with tenacity”

The UN agency announced that it has appointed experts to work with the DRC’s own response team to “improve rapidly” the health facilities’ ability to prevent and control disease. Additionally, it stated that it would deliver the Central African nation two tons of medical and laboratory supplies.

The WHO’s regional director for Africa, Mohamed Janabi, stated, “We’re working with determination to stop the spread of the virus and protect communities.” We are working closely with the health authorities to quickly increase crucial response measures to end the outbreak as soon as possible, based on the nation’s long-standing expertise in controlling viral disease outbreaks.

The northwestern Equateur province’s Ebola outbreak is the 16th to strike the DRC, with the last one occurring in April 2022. Authorities announced the outbreak had ended after about a month and a half.

Afghanistan earthquake death toll rises to 2,200

By in News, World News

Published On 4 Sep 2025

More than 2,200 people died in the region’s mountainous regions of southeast Afghanistan as a result of a major earthquake that hit the country over the weekend, according to a spokesperson for the Taliban government.

According to estimates, about 1,400 people died. The updated death toll, according to Hamdullah Fitrat, was 2, 205, according to a taliban spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat on Thursday.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

First aid and emergency supplies are being delivered, according to Fitrat, and tents have been set up for people.

As search and rescue efforts raged on Thursday, a third earthquake struck the area. No new deaths have been reported as a result of the earthquake’s magnitude 6,2 magnitude.

According to Ali Hashem of Al Jazeera, “We were in a building and everyone was fleeing and fearing for their lives,” the earthquake’s impact on Kunar Province’s residents was immediate. “People are simply afraid of what might occur.”

One of the most deadly earthquakes in recent memory was caused by the shallowness of Sunday’s epicenter, which was approximately eight kilometers (5 miles) deep.

The Taliban claimed that the magnitude 6 earthquake on Sunday and the subsequent magnitude 5 earthquake on Tuesday left at least 3, 640 people injured. The UN has warned that the death toll could rise as more people remain trapped beneath rubble, particularly in Kunar, one of the worst-hit provinces, as a result of the UN’s warning that more people may remain trapped underground.

World Food Programme Afghanistan’s country director, John Aylieff, told Al Jazeera on Thursday, “We’re seeing utter devastation, a real catastrophe.” “We have homes that have been completely destroyed.”

The Kunar province, where people typically reside in wood and mud-brick homes along steep river valleys separated by high mountains, is where the majority of the casualties have occurred.

Hashem reported from Afghanistan that this terrain has had a significant impact on rescue efforts. His team requested a three-hour drive to the site of Sunday’s earthquake, and was instructed to walk for two hours.

Hashem said, “There are some people behind the mountains who are dying in silence.”

According to authorities, more than 6,700 homes have been destroyed. In their search for lost loved ones, survivors are sifting through the remains. The challenging terrain is preventing relief efforts.

To assist survivors, Taliban authorities have flown army commandos and helicopters. Several aid workers reported enduring hours of walking to towns whose landslides and rockfall have caused the country’s villages to be barren.

There is “only rubble left,” according to Obaidullah Stoman, 26, who searched for a friend in the Kunar village of Wadir in Kunar’s Nugral district.

“I’m looking here, but I missed seeing him.” He claimed that it was difficult for him to understand the circumstances here.

Five members of Akhlaq’s family were killed in the remote village by the earthquake, which injured and had to be taken to the hospital.

The Kunar region’s head of disaster management, Ehsanullah Ehsan, said, “We cannot accurately predict how many bodies might still be buried beneath the rubble.”

Aylieff warned on Thursday that the World Food Programme only has enough food to last a few weeks, claiming rescue teams are having trouble getting to far-off the earthquake-stricken areas.

According to him, “We’re using every means possible, including small pick-ups, pack animals, and even in some cases, villagers are coming down and bringing food back to the communities,” he told Al Jazeera.

[Al Jazeera]

Due to its position near the confluence of the Indian and Eurasian plates, Afghanistan has previously experienced devastating earthquakes.

Judge blocks Trump’s bid to cut $4bn in US foreign aid

By in News, World News

A federal judge in the United States has ruled that the Trump administration cannot unilaterally reduce US Congress’ approved foreign aid by billions.

District Judge Amir Ali in Washington ruled on Wednesday that the White House cannot deduct $ 4 billion in foreign aid funding from international aid organizations like USAID.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

Defendants have no justification for rejecting the fundamental requirement that all Congress’s appropriations be done, Ali wrote.

The White House has recently made a significant reduction in foreign aid, which is the most recent legal battle to be fought over. As part of a wider trend of illegal executive overreach, some of those efforts have received criticism.

The Trump administration attempted to revoke billions of dollars in funding last week through a technique known as pocket rescission, which would allow the funds to go unspent. The manoeuvre was last used in 1977, almost 50 years ago, according to the White House.

The administration’s decision to rescind the funds, which were originally intended for the Department of State and USAID, an international assistance organization that had been gutted by the administration, must be made by Ali.

The administration may file an appeal of the decision, as appeals courts have recently rejected similar decisions that challenge the administration’s unilateral decision.

US Justice Department launches fraud probe into Fed Gov Lisa Cook: Report

By in News, World News

US Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is the subject of a criminal mortgage fraud investigation, according to the US Department of Justice.

According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the Justice Department also issued grand jury subpoenas out of both Georgia and Michigan on Thursday.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemsend of list

According to Reuters, Ed Martin, who was hired by Attorney General Pam Bondi as a special assistant US attorney to assist with investigations involving public officials, and the US Attorneys’ Offices in the Northern District of Georgia and the Eastern District of Michigan, is leading the investigation.

Pulte, who was appointed by US President Donald Trump, claimed Cook made up the allegations by listing multiple properties as her primary residence when she applied for mortgages, which might lead to lower interest rates. Properties are owned by Cook in Massachusetts, Georgia, and Michigan.

Due to Pulte’s allegations of mortgage fraud against her, Trump fired Cook, which led her to file a lawsuit challenging his decision to fire her.

The Justice Department was working to find new arguments to support Trump’s overreach in firing the Fed governor, according to Cook’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, a well-known lawyer in Washington.

He requests cover, which they offer. We have started addressing Governor Cook’s properties in the pending case and will continue to do so, but it is not necessary for this DOJ to launch a new politicized investigation, Lowell said. “They appear to have just done it again.

The case has implications for the Fed’s ability to regulate interest rates without bending political wills, which are widely believed to be essential to any central bank’s ability to control inflation.

Trump has criticized Fed Chair Jerome Powell for directing monetary policy, calling on the US central bank to immediately and aggressively cut rates.

In one of her most recent legal filings, Cook claimed that in order to be appointed to the Fed in 2022, she listed mortgages on three properties on forms submitted to the White House and US Senate. Any contradictions were discovered when she was confirmed, so Trump cannot now fire her.

Cook is the third public official to face charges of mortgage fraud.