Draft teams, stars, fixtures and all the details on Holland, Japan, Tunisia and Sweden

In the lines below, we will present you all the details of group F, in which, after the draw, the first representatives from the Netherlands, Japan, Tunisia and Sweden were assigned.

Netherlands: 'Clockwork Orange' wants to break World Cup curse

The Netherlands come to the 2026 World Cup with huge ambitions and the feeling that the current generation can finally deliver the first ever world title.

The Batavian national team played in three World Cup finals (1974, 1978, 2010) but lost them all, and the pressure to break the curse is greater than ever.

Under the command of Ronald Koeman, who took over the helm of the “Machine Orange” from the great Louis Van Gaal, the team plays more than convincing football, which was also seen in the last edition of the European Championship, in 2024, where the Netherlands reached the semi-finals.

The Dutch's good form continued in the qualifiers for this summer's final tournament, with Koeman's men comfortably qualifying for the main draw from top of Group G, which also featured Poland, Finland, Lithuania and Malta.

Therefore, Dutch fans are right to hope that 2026 will be the year of their favourites, and the coach is adding to his statements, thus trying to boost the confidence of his compatriots – both supporters and players.

After the group draw, which took place in December 2025, Ronald Koeman was extremely succinct and confident, stating that “no World Cup team is stronger than the Netherlands“.

The best performance at the Worlds: finalist (1974, 1978, 2010).

TYPE TEAM (4-2-3-1): Verbruggen; Dumfries, Van Dijk, Aké, Van de Ven; De Jong, Gravenberch; Malen, Reijnders, Gakpo; Depay
COACH: RONALD KOEMAN (62 years old, selector since January 2023)

STAR – Virgil van Dijk
Date of birth: July 8, 1991 (age 34)
place of birth: Breda (Netherlands)
Height: 1.95 m
Club: Liverpool FC
Field position: central defender
Trophies at the national team:-

Japan: The “Samurai” are in their 7th consecutive participation in the most important continental tournament

The Japanese have become a constant presence at the World Cup, with this year's edition marking the Asian nation's 7th consecutive appearance on world football's big stage.

What's more, in the last two final tournaments, in 2018 and 2022, Japan managed to get past the group stage each time, leaving behind extremely strong nations such as Germany (2022), Poland or Senegal (2018).

So, the selected team prepared by Hajime Moriyasu will try to take advantage of the experience accumulated over the years to achieve their goal, namely overcoming the threshold of the last eight, which until now, represents the best performance in the history of the country at the World Cup.

The current generation of Japanese looks excellent on paper, the team being very well compartmentalized, and in addition to individuals, which seem to be more than ever, Moriyasu's band also has an impressive collective strength.

In the preliminaries, the “samurai” did not have the slightest emotion that they might miss the qualification for this year's final tournament. Moriyasu's men scored maximum points and finished top of Group B, which also included North Korea, Syria and Myanmar.

The best performance at the Worlds: Round of 16 (2002, 2010, 2018, 2022).

TYPE TEAM (4-3-3): Suzuki; Tomiyasu, Taniguchi, Itakura; Doan, Endo, Tanaka, Nakamura; Kubo, Ito; Ueda
COACH: HAJIME MORIYASU (57 years old, coach since August 2018)

Wataru Endo, the star of Japan // Photo: Imago

STAR – Wataru Endo
Date of birth: February 9, 1993 (age 33)
place of birth: Totsuka Ward, Yokohama (Japan)
Height: 1.78 m
Club: Liverpool
Field position: defensive midfielder
Trophies at the national team: Asian Cup finalist in 2019

Tunisia: The Eagles of Carthage have never qualified for the knockout stages of the World Cup

Let's talk now about Tunisia, one of the most consistent African teams in recent years, which, like the Japanese, marks its seventh appearance on the main draw of the World Cup.

However, unlike the Japanese, the “Eagles of Carthage” have never managed to gain access to the knockout stages of the competition, although they have produced big surprises over time.

The most recent of them was recorded at the very last edition of the World Cup, in 2022, when Tunisia prevailed over France (1-0), the reigning world champion at the time and the finalist of the tournament in Qatar.

Even so, the latest recorded results do not help the Tunisians much. We say this because at the 2025-2026 edition of the African Cup of Nations, the “eagles” were eliminated prematurely, in the round of 16, losing on penalties to the first representative of Mali.

This counter-performance came with the sacking of Sami Trabelsi from the role of coach, in his place being installed Sabri Lamouchi, at the very beginning of the year, immediately after the conclusion of the competition hosted by Morocco.

So the former Rennes and Nottingham Forest coach will have to put things together in a relatively short time, given that the tour of the USA, Canada and Mexico will start in June.

The best performance at the Worlds: group stage.

TYPE TEAM (4-3-3): Dahmen; Valery, Bronn, Talbi, Abdi; Gharbi, Skhiri, Mejbri; Achouri, Mastouri, Tounekti
COACH: SABRI LAMOUCHI (54 years old, selector since January 2026)

Hannibal Mejbri has 44 matches and one goal scored for the Tunisian national team // PHOTO: Imago Images

STAR – HANNIBAL MEJBRI
Date of birth: January 21, 2003 (age 23)
place of birth: Ivry-sur-Seine (France)
Height: 1.84 m
Club: Burnley
Field position: attacking midfielder
Trophies at the national team:-

Sweden: disaster in the preliminary group, still takes place at the World Cup

Sweden was the last team to complete Group F, following their victory in the play-off held in March, after defeating Ukraine (3-1) and Poland (3-2).

Qualifying through the play-offs thanks to a place in the Nations League was a second chance, which the Scandinavian team took full advantage of. This is because in the classic preliminaries it finished in last place in its group, with only two points obtained, being outclassed by Switzerland, Kosovo and Slovenia.

The demise of Zlatan Ibrahimovic's generation marked a setback for Sweden, but the emergence of new stars such as Gyokeres, Isak and Elanga helped them stay among the World Cup-qualified teams.

At the World Cup, Sweden has qualified 13 times in history, the first being in 1934. It alternated quick eliminations with fabulous results, the best final result since 1958, when it was defeated by the great Pele's Brazil, 2-5 in the last act.

Best performance at the Worlds: finalist in 1958.

Team-type (3-4-2-1): Nordfeldt; Starfelt, Lagerbielke, Lindelof; Svensson, Karlstrom, Ayari, Gudmundsson; Nygren, Elanga; Gyokeres
Coach: Graham Potter (51)

Gyokeres is Sweden's star / photo: Imago Images

STAR – Viktor Gyökeres
Date of birth: June 4, 1998 (age 27)
Place of birth: Stockholm, Sweden
Height: 1.89 m
Club: Arsenal London
Field position: ATTACKING
National trophies: –

Group F match schedule (Romanian time):

• June 14, 23:00 » Netherlands – Japan

• June 15, 05:00 » Sweden – Tunisia

• June 20, 20:00 » Netherlands – Sweden

• June 21, 07:00 » Tunisia – Japan

• June 26, 02:00 » Tunisia – Netherlands

• June 26, 02:00 » Japan – Sweden

The composition of the groups of the World Championship 2026