France beat Ukraine to qualify for men's World Cup

QUALIFIED: France have booked their place in their eighth consecutive World Cup. Picture: FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images

Uefa World Cup Qualifiers: France 4 (Mbappè 55 (P), 83, Olise 76, Ekitike 88) Ukraine 0

France booked a spot for their eighth consecutive World Cup after a Kylian Mbappe double helped to secure a 4-0 home victory against Ukraine on Thursday.

Les Bleus, who are unbeaten in a Euro or World Cup qualifying game since 2019, will be seeded when the draw for the June 11-July 19 tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada is made on December 5. Next year's finals will be coach Didier Deschamps’ last in charge.

Captain Mbappe found the back of the net twice in the second half of an emotionally charged game that was played on the 10th anniversary of attacks that killed 130 people in Paris.

He scored either side of Michael Olise’s 76th-minute goal, before Hugo Ekitike added a late fourth.

France top Europe’s Group D with 13 points from five games and have an unassailable six-point lead over second-placed Iceland. They will face bottom-placed Azerbaijan in their final qualifier on Sunday.

France: Maignan, Kounde, Saliba, Upamecano, Digne, Kante, Kone, Olise, Cherki, Barcola, Mbappe. 

Subs: Samba, Chevalier, Gusto, Nkunku, Ekitike, Akliouche, Konate, Zaire Emery, Mateta, Lucas Hernandez, Theo Hernandez, Khephren Thuram.

Ukraine: Trubin, Karavaev, Zabarnyi, Svatok, Mykhavko, Mykhaylichenko, Ocheretko, Yarmolyuk, Nazaryna, Gutsulyak, Yaremchuk. 

Subs: Volynets, Riznyk, Konoplya, Bondar, Kaliuzhnyi, Vanat, Shaparenko, Tsygankov, Mykolenko, Sudakov, Voloshyn, Zubkov.

Referee: Slavko Vincic (Slovenia)