France is through to the Round of 16 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The 2026 edition is co-hosted across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Les Bleus topped UEFA qualifying Group D in 2025, posting five wins and one draw across the campaign. That form carried over into the tournament itself, with France recording a 3-1 victory against Senegal and a 4-1 demolition of Norway among their standout group stage results. Next up: Sweden, with the Round of 32 fixture scheduled for on or around June 30, 2026.

Why this World Cup is different

On June 9, 2026, Kraken was named FIFA’s Official Crypto Exchange Supporter, marking the first time FIFA has formalized a partnership with a crypto exchange.

FIFA Collect, the governing body’s digital collectibles platform, is also active during the tournament. Fans can trade digital collectibles and participate in a program that ties NFT ownership to ticket access. The platform builds on earlier blockchain infrastructure work that FIFA developed in partnership with Algorand.

FIFA has not launched a single official tournament token, which has left a vacuum that a wave of fan tokens, meme coins, and event-specific projects have moved to fill.

The crypto market angle

Chiliz (CHZ), which powers the fan token ecosystem used by dozens of professional football clubs, has seen increased trading activity tied to match outcomes. AVAX has also drawn attention in World Cup-related trading contexts during the tournament.

Fan tokens let holders vote on minor club decisions and access exclusive content. When a team wins, sentiment spikes, token demand rises, and prices move. When a team loses, the reverse tends to happen with roughly equal speed.

Kraken is a regulated exchange operating in multiple major jurisdictions. Prior crypto sports partnerships, many signed during the 2021-2022 bull cycle, were mostly reversed or quietly wound down when prices collapsed and the regulatory environment tightened.