Turkey and France will open Group A1 of the Nations League 2026/27 on Friday, September 25, at Kocaeli Stadyumu in İzmit, Turkey. The match is listed to kick off at 14:45 in the U.S. Eastern time zone, 12:45 in Mexico and 20:45 in Spain, with Felix Zwayer of Germany assigned as referee.
The timing gives the game immediate weight: it is France’s first match in a new cycle under Zinedine Zidane, with Kylian Mbappé still wearing the captain’s armband. That makes the meeting more than an early group fixture. It is the first public test of how France looks now that Didier Deschamps is gone, and it arrives with a Turkey side trying to reset after being eliminated in the group stage of the World Cup 2026.
For viewers in the United States, the match will be available on fuboTV and ViX. In Mexico, it will be shown on Sky Sports Mexico, Sky and izzi. The different broadcast options match the scale of the fixture itself: a group opener that begins the competition, starts France’s new era and gives both teams an early chance to set the tone for the rest of the campaign.
Turkey’s task is straightforward but not simple. At home, it will want to compete on the front foot, yet it also has to be tighter at the back against a France side that still carries top-end quality even as it adjusts to Zidane’s first match in charge. The opening whistle will not answer every question about France’s new shape, but it will show quickly whether Mbappé and his teammates can turn a coaching change into an immediate statement.
