Play-off draw Italy's road to the World Cup will not be easy

Italy missed out on direct qualification for next summer's World Cup, which will feature 48 teams for the first time. Now the four-time world champions know their opponents in the play-offs.

The four "semi-final" groups were drawn at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich at the end of March. Only the winner of each group will go through to the World Cup.

Italy missed out on the last two World Cups in 2018 in Russia and 2022 in Qatar - and also failed to qualify directly for the tournament in the USA, Canada and Mexico this year. After the two defeats against Norway led by superstar Erling Haaland, Gennaro Gattuso's team must once again take the detour via the play-offs as group runners-up. The Italians were eliminated by North Macedonia in the play-offs for the 2022 World Cup and by Sweden in the play-offs for the 2018 World Cup.

Both opponents also loomed in the draw this time, but Italy escaped a déjà vu of this kind. It was drawn with Northern Ireland for the play-off semi-final in Zurich on Thursday. The "Squadra Azzurra" has the right to play at home in this knockout match. In a possible final in Pool A, the opponents would be Wales or Bosnia-Herzegovina - but Italy would have to play away from home.

Sweden to Ukraine, Kosovo to Slovakia

Sweden, who lost four out of six games in qualifying and finished bottom of the Swiss group, made it through to the play-offs as group winners of the Nations League and will face Ukraine away from home in the semi-finals. The winner of this clash will face the winner of the Poland v Albania game at home.

Kosovo, the runners-up in the Swiss qualifying group, will first fight for a place in the final away against Slovakia. In the potential final, the Kosovars would face Turkey or Romania, in which case they would play at home.

In the other semi-finals, Denmark and North Macedonia and the Czech Republic and Ireland will face off. The Czech Republic or Ireland would have home advantage in a possible final in the battle for one of the remaining four World Cup tickets.

Jamaica against New Caledonia

In addition to the four places for Europe, two tickets will be awarded in the intercontinental play-off tournament between March 23 and 31. This will be a duel between New Caledonia and Jamaica. The winner will face African representative DR Congo in the final, with the winner going to the World Cup. In the other semi-final clash, Bolivia and Suriname will meet. The winner will face Iraq in the final. The matches will take place in the Mexican cities of Guadalajara and Monterrey.

The six play-off places will be drawn as wild cards at the World Cup draw on December 5 in Washington.

Live ticker of the draw

• Liveticker

  New posts
• Liveticker closed
Who has home court?

In a possible final on path A, Italy would have to play away to the winner of the match between Wales and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Group A

Semi-final 1: Italy - Northern Ireland
Semi-final 2: Wales - Bosnia-Herzegovina
Final: Winner of semi-final 2 vs. winner of semi-final 1

Group B

Semi-final 1: Ukraine - Sweden
Semi-final 2: Poland - Albania
Final: Winner semi-final 1 vs. winner semi-final 2

Group C

Semi-final 1: Turkey - Romania
Semi-final 2: Slovakia - Kosovo
Final: Winner semi-final 2 vs. winner semi-final 1

Group D

Semi-final 1: Denmark - North Macedonia
Semi-final 2: Czech Republic - Ireland
Final: Winner of semi-final 2 vs. winner of semi-final 1

Note: The first-named teams enjoy home rights

Materazzi and Dahlin are ready

Dahlin sensationally finished third with Sweden at the 1994 World Cup, while Materazzi won the World Cup title with Italy in 2006. So now the two will draw the lots. A duel between Italy and Sweden would be possible ...

Here are the draw pots once again

Infantino takes the stage once again. What a comeback! He greets the audience in various languages. Well, there's no need to go into that any further. Here is an overview of the draw pots.

The draw pots in Europe

• Pot 1: Italy / Denmark / Ukraine / Turkey
• Pot 2: Wales / Poland / Slovakia / Czech Republic
• Pot 3: Ireland / Albania / Bosnia and Herzegovina / Kosovo
• Pot 4: Sweden / Romania / North Macedonia / Northern Ireland

Show more

The European play-offs are about to be drawn

Emotional images are shown once again to build up the tension ...

Intercontinental play-offs to be drawn first

Congo DR is in the final and will play the winner of the match between New Caledonia and Jamaica. Iraq awaits in the second final. Their opponents will be Bolivia or Suriname.

A few words from the FIFA President are a must

Gianni Infantino talks about dreams and is of course already looking forward to the World Cup. He even talks about 100 Super Bowls in one month. Well ... The draw should start here shortly.

Karembeu and Materazzi draw the lots

Christan Karembeu (1998 with France) and Marco Materazzi (2006 with Italy) will draw the lots together with the Swede Martin Dahlin.

Melanie Winiger launches the afternoon

The draw begins at 1.00 pm

The play-off pairings will be drawn at FIFA headquarters in Zurich from 1 pm. The intercontinental play-offs will be drawn first, followed by the European play-offs.

Show more

For the draw, the 16 contenders are divided into four pots. There are four mini-tournaments. Both the semi-finals and the final are decided in one match. In the semi-finals, teams from pot 1 (with home ground) meet teams from pot 4 and those from pot 2 (with home ground) meet teams from pot 3. The four winners of the mini-tournaments qualify for the World Cup.

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 face Iraq and Congo, the top-ranked teams in the world rankings, in the finals.

You might also be interested in

Nati testimonials from the World Cup qualifiersEmbolo is the best - but the big winner is someone else