42 participants have been confirmed for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada, which will be held for the first time with 48 teams. The remaining six will be determined in European and intercontinental play-offs.
19.11.2025, 22:00
19.11.2025, 22:12
SDA
On March 26 and 31, things get serious for Italy, among others. The four-time world champions must survive two rounds in a mini-tournament to qualify for a World Cup for the first time since 2014. Who the "Squadra Azzurra" will have to face will be drawn at FIFA headquarters in Zurich from 13:00 on Thursday.
The 16 contenders will be divided into four pots for the draw. Italy is in the first pot together with Denmark, Turkey and Ukraine. These teams are each assigned to a mini-tournament and therefore cannot play each other. In the semi-final, the top seeds will play at home against a team from pot 4, which contains the teams that qualified for the play-offs via the Nations League, i.e. Romania, Sweden, North Macedonia and Northern Ireland.
Albania and Kosovo cannot meet
The other semi-final pits teams from pot 2 against teams from pot 3: Poland, Wales, the Czech Republic and Slovakia in pot 2 and Ireland, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo in pot 3. The FIFA world rankings from November were decisive for the allocation. Both the semi-final and the final will be decided in one match. While the team with the higher ranking in the world rankings has the right to play at home in the semi-final, the draw for the final will take place on Thursday.
The intercontinental playoffs will take place in Mexico from March 23 to 31. The six qualified teams will play for two World Cup places. Bolivia, New Caledonia, Jamaica and Suriname will play semi-finals to determine who will play the finals against Iraq and Congo, the top-ranked teams in the world rankings.
