Match report
Mbappé gives Zidane a winning France debut against Türkiye
Zinédine Zidane's first match as France coach ended in a 1–0 Nations League win away to Türkiye. Kylian Mbappé supplied the only goal in Kocaeli, giving France three points at the start of League A Group 1 and leaving newly promoted Türkiye empty-handed in their opener.
AI-assisted match report written from official match data and the sources linked below.
Michael Olise set up Mbappé's 54th-minute finish after a goalless first half. Mbappé then went off injured five minutes later. Despite France's 64% possession, FotMob recorded 12 shots for each side, and Mike Maignan had to deny Arda Güler as Türkiye sought an equaliser. Türkiye goalkeeper Uğurcan Çakır was sent off in the 87th minute, when the hosts were already a goal behind.
The result reverses the outcome of France's previous visit to Türkiye, a 2–0 defeat in a EURO 2020 qualifier in 2019. Both teams face another Group 1 test on 28 September: Türkiye host Italy and France visit Belgium.
Report sources
France won 1–0 away against Türkiye (half-time 0–0).
Türkiye met France in the UEFA Nations League (League A - 1). Kick-off was Friday, 25 September 2026, 18:45 UTC at Yildiz Entegre Kocaeli Stadyumu. Referee: Felix Zwayer.
Team pages: Türkiye · France · UEFA Nations League
Key moments
- 54' Goal: Kylian Mbappé (assist: Michael Olise) — 0–1
- 87' Red card: Uğurcan Çakır
Starting line-ups
Türkiye (3-4-2-1)
France (4-3-3)
Sirius · Why these numbers
Before kick-off Sirius gave Türkiye 22%, the draw 20%, France 58%. It finished Türkiye 0–1 France.
France's rating gap outweighs Türkiye's home ground — France are clearly the stronger side on our strength rating, and that is most of France's 58%. The draw at 20% is held down by a high-scoring environment.
Why France at 58%?
France sit 250 points higher on our strength rating — 1816 to 2065. Sides with a more than 240-point rating edge on the road won 66.4% of 5,895 such games. The 300 most similar past games finished 23–24–53.
Why only 58%?
No scored evidence points the other way. 58% is what this rating gap has been worth in games like these; the rest is the draw at 20% and Türkiye at 22%.
Why is the draw only 20%?
With a rating gap this size the draw starts at 22.4%. These teams' recent games average 3.6 goals — a high-scoring environment. Games in that environment drew 22.9% of 17,250. The goals environment takes 1.9 points off the draw.
What did we measure but not count?
Türkiye (16 fully-tracked matches with us) and France (20) carry strength ratings anchored to the official international ratings list, so the class read stands on far more than our own short records. National sides play too few games for a record built from scratch, so their rating chain starts from the published international ratings instead of a blind first guess.
Sirius probabilities, frozen at kick-off. Analysis, not betting advice. How Sirius is doing this season · Full breakdown, evidence cards and squad news in the Match Insights tab
About this match
On this page: the Türkiye vs France final score and result, goal highlights and video clips of every goal, who scored, starting lineups, match stats and the full match report from this UEFA Nations League fixture.
- Who scored and when — a goal-by-goal timeline of the match.
- Match stats — possession, shots, expected goals (xG), corners and cards.
- Starting lineups and player ratings for both teams.
- Head-to-head record and recent form for both sides.
Watch the goals: goal highlights and video clips of every goal from Türkiye 0–1 France. Explore more on the Türkiye and France team pages or the UEFA Nations League page.