European nations have discovered their route to the 2026 World Cup after the qualifying draw was made in Zurich, Switzerland, on Friday afternoon.
After a lengthy process, teams were *finally* drawn into 12 groups of four and five teams.
Teams drawn in groups of five will begin qualifying in March and the groups of four start their campaigns in September. All groups will conclude in November 2025.
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So how did the draw play out? It was confirmed recently that Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland would be automatically placed in Pot 1.
Thomas Tuchel's England will take on Serbia, Albania, Latvia and Andorra in Group K.
Here is the 2026 World Cup qualifying draw in full:
Group A: Winner of Germany vs Italy, Slovakia, Northern Ireland, Luxembourg
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Group B: Switzerland, Sweden, Slovenia, Kosovo
Group C: Loser of Portugal vs Denmark, Greece, Scotland, Belarus
Group D: Winner of France vs Croatia, Ukraine, Iceland, Azerbaijan
Group E: Winner of Spain vs Netherlands, Turkiye, Georgia, Bulgaria
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Group F: Winner of Portugal vs Denmark, Hungary, Republic of Ireland, Armenia
Group G: Loser of Spain vs Netherlands, Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Malta
Group H: Austria, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, San Marino
Group I: Loser of Germany vs Italy, Norway, Israel, Estonia, Moldova
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Group J: Belgium, Wales, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein
Group K: England, Serbia, Albania, Latvia, Andorra
Group L: Loser of France vs Croatia, Czechia, Montenegro, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar
As explained by FIFA, the revamped European qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup and the expanded Nations League will happen in the international windows of March and June 2025.
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The group stage runs from March to November 2025 (ten matchdays during five international windows) and consists of 12 qualifying groups of four or five teams.
As mentioned above, the groups of five teams start the campaign in March 2025, and the groups of four teams start in September 2025, such that all groups finish the group stage in November 2025.
While the 54 UEFA member associations eventually enter the group stage, 24 of them first continue in the Nations League [UNL] in March 2025 by participating in the Nations League quarter-finals, or the UNL promotion/relegation play-offs in March 2025.
The four winners of the UNL quarter-final advance to the UNL finals in June 2025.
To allow the parallel scheduling of EQ and UNL matches in March and June 2025, several conditions must be implemented for the allocation of teams to either groups of four or five teams.
The teams in groups of four are available for UNL matches in March and June. One out of the five teams in a group of five can use its two rest days to be available for UNL matches in March
In short, it will follow a familiar format, with 12 groups of four or five teams, and the group winners securing a place at the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The four remaining places will then be decided in March 2026 in a 16-team UEFA play-off involving the 12 group-stage runners-up and the four best-ranked UEFA Nations League 2024-25 group winners that have neither qualified directly for the FIFA World Cup as group winners nor entered the play-offs already as group runners-up.
Key dates – World Cup 2026 European qualifiers:
-Group-stage draw: December 13 2024
-Group-stage match dates: March 21-25, June 6-10, September 4-9, October 9-14 and November 13-18, 2025
-Play-off match dates: March 26-31 2026
-Final tournament dates: June 11 to July 19 2026
Topics: FIFA World Cup, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales
Jack Kenmare