WC 2026 · Forecasting Oxford Football Forecasting
🇳🇴 Norway UEFA Elo 1,914 · world 15th
24 / 30 / 46 win · draw · win most likely 1–1
🇫🇷 France UEFA Elo 2,062 · world 3rd
Group
I
Date
Friday 26 June 2026
Kick-off
19:00 UTC
Venue
Boston Stadium, Foxborough

Fig. V7 Ensemble · Group I

Norway v France — scoreline probabilities

0 Norway 0–0 France · 11.12% 11 Norway 0–1 France · 12.63% 13 Norway 0–2 France · 9.39% 9.4 Norway 0–3 France · 4.29% 4.3 Norway 0–4 France · 1.47% 1.5 Norway 0–5 France · 0.40% Norway 0–6 France · 0.09% Norway 0–7 France · 0.02% 39% 1 Norway 1–0 France · 8.32% 8.3 Norway 1–1 France · 13.79% (most likely) 14 Norway 1–2 France · 8.75% 8.7 Norway 1–3 France · 3.99% 4.0 Norway 1–4 France · 1.36% 1.4 Norway 1–5 France · 0.37% Norway 1–6 France · 0.08% Norway 1–7 France · 0.02% 37% 2 Norway 2–0 France · 4.35% 4.3 Norway 2–1 France · 5.95% 6.0 Norway 2–2 France · 4.07% 4.1 Norway 2–3 France · 1.86% 1.9 Norway 2–4 France · 0.64% 0.6 Norway 2–5 France · 0.17% Norway 2–6 France · 0.04% Norway 2–7 France · 0.01% 17% 3 Norway 3–0 France · 1.35% 1.4 Norway 3–1 France · 1.85% 1.8 Norway 3–2 France · 1.26% 1.3 Norway 3–3 France · 0.58% 0.6 Norway 3–4 France · 0.20% Norway 3–5 France · 0.05% Norway 3–6 France · 0.01% Norway 3–7 France · 0.00% 5% 4 Norway 4–0 France · 0.31% Norway 4–1 France · 0.43% Norway 4–2 France · 0.29% Norway 4–3 France · 0.13% Norway 4–4 France · 0.05% Norway 4–5 France · 0.01% Norway 4–6 France · 0.00% Norway 4–7 France · 0.00% 1% 5 Norway 5–0 France · 0.06% Norway 5–1 France · 0.08% Norway 5–2 France · 0.06% Norway 5–3 France · 0.03% Norway 5–4 France · 0.01% Norway 5–5 France · 0.00% Norway 5–6 France · 0.00% Norway 5–7 France · 0.00% 0% 6 Norway 6–0 France · 0.01% Norway 6–1 France · 0.01% Norway 6–2 France · 0.01% Norway 6–3 France · 0.00% Norway 6–4 France · 0.00% Norway 6–5 France · 0.00% Norway 6–6 France · 0.00% Norway 6–7 France · 0.00% 0% 7 Norway 7–0 France · 0.00% Norway 7–1 France · 0.00% Norway 7–2 France · 0.00% Norway 7–3 France · 0.00% Norway 7–4 France · 0.00% Norway 7–5 France · 0.00% Norway 7–6 France · 0.00% Norway 7–7 France · 0.00% 0%

Cells show P(exact scoreline); the right column and bottom row are the marginal totals P(Norway scores k) and P(France scores k). Grid runs 0–7 goals per side; the 8–10-goal tail holds 0.01% of the mass and is omitted from the cells (not from the totals).

The grid makes France favourites at 45.9%, with a 29.6% draw. The single most-likely scoreline is 1–1 (13.8%), but no exact score clears 14% — the distribution is broad, as it should be.

Source · Oxford Football Forecasting model

Win · draw · loss

🇳🇴 Norway 24.5% Draw 29.6% 🇫🇷 France 45.9%

Rounded values sum to exactly 100%.

Expected goals (λ)

🇳🇴Norway 0.93
🇫🇷France 1.37

Poisson means feeding the grid; combined expected goals 2.30.

40.4% Over 2.5 goals P(3 or more goals in the match)
59.6% Under 2.5 goals complement of over-2.5
46.2% Both teams to score P(each side scores ≥ 1)
1–1 Most-likely scoreline modal exact score · 13.8%
Gillette Foxborough, USA
Heat index 29°C apparent temperature (June–July)
Max temperature 27°C June–July daily high
Humidity 74% relative humidity
Altitude 83m above sea level

Source · Open-Meteo & venue records. Travel and time-zone exposure are per-team — see each side's dossier.

1,914 Elo rating 2,062
2.40 Recent NT form 2.13
€580M Squad value €1609M
0.299 Squad form (global) 0.384
0.777 Fitness readiness 0.886
+0.24 Decoupling g +0.24

France carry the Elo edge (148 points). On the decoupling axis, France is the side whose squad is valued higher relative to its record.

How a single-match forecast is built

The pairing is scored by the ensemble — Dixon-Coles bivariate-Poisson, the Bayesian hierarchical model and the global LightGBM-Poisson, log-pooled — yielding the 11×11 scoreline grid above. Win/draw/loss, expected goals (λ), over-2.5 and both-teams-to-score are all marginals of that one grid, so they are mutually consistent by construction. The strength inputs shown here feed the models; the forecast is their pooled output, not a manual weighting of these rows. The model matches the market out-of-sample (RPS 0.1891 vs 0.1905); it does not significantly beat it at n = 3. The ensemble, in full →