İzmit opens its Nations League campaign on Friday with a meeting shaped by new beginnings. Turkey return to League A in front of their home support at Kocaeli Stadyumu, while France arrive for Zinédine Zidane’s first competitive match as national-team coach.
The news from the club
France and Turkey meet in the opening round of UEFA Nations League A1 for 2026/27, a group also containing Italy and Belgium. The contest will be Zidane’s official debut in charge of the French side, with Kylian Mbappé appointed captain and several new faces included in the squad.
Zidane used his pre-match press conference at the Kocaeli stadium to underline the scale of the task. Turkey, he said, are a strong opponent who featured at the most recent World Cup.
“It will be a very difficult game tomorrow and they will give us problems,” the France coach said.
He also singled out Turkey’s Arda Güler, whom he knows through the player’s Real Madrid connection. “Arda is a very, very good player,” Zidane said, praising both his ability and his development at the Spanish club.
Turkey come into the fixture after ending a 24-year wait to return to the World Cup this summer. Their tournament ended in the group stage, despite a win over the United States, with Australia and Paraguay taking victories against them.
France, meanwhile, finished fourth in their previous major campaign, losing their semi-final to Spain before England won the third-place match.
Vincenzo Montella has named 29 players for Turkey’s Nations League start, but the Italian coach must work without two central figures: Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Kenan Yıldız. He acknowledged that the absences change his team, while seeing an opportunity for less-established members of the selection.
“Without Çalhanoğlu and Yıldız, Turkey are not the same,” Montella said. “It will be a test for the new players.”
Montella also dismissed any suggestion that Zidane’s five-year spell away from coaching will count against him. “Zidane has great charisma; he does not need to prove it,” the Turkey manager said.
Friday night in İzmit
The match kicks off on Friday, 25 September 2026, at 20:45 in mainland Spain, or 19:45 in the Canary Islands. In Spain, DAZN will carry the Group A1 fixture.
German referee Felix Zwayer has been appointed to oversee the game, with Christian Dingert assigned to video review duties. For Turkey, it is the first step back among Europe’s top Nations League division; for France, it is the first competitive chapter of Zidane’s tenure.
