AI predicts France will win the 2026 FIFA World Cup, defeating Argentina in the final on July 19, with England reaching the semi-finals and Portugal exiting in the quarter-finals. Picture: Google Gemini
If you have faith in the predictive ability of Artificial Intelligence (AI), you might want to put your money on France to win the FIFA World Cup.
According to ActionNetwork.com, which used a sophisticated AI model to simulate the tournament, France are the favourites to lift the trophy at the 2026 edition.
The tournament begins on June 11, with Bafana Bafana taking on co-hosts Mexico at the Estadio Azteca in a 9pm SA time kick-off.
It’s a rematch of the 2010 FIFA World Cup opener when South Africa were the hosts. On that occasion, Bafana took a spectacular lead through a Siphiwe Tshabalala wonder strike, only to be forced to settle for a draw after Mexico equalised 11 minutes from time. Bafana, however, won’t feature in the business end of the competition according to Action Network’s predictions.
