Curious World Cup qualifying draw
Opponents of the DFB stars remain a secret
12/13/2024 – 8:17 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
The World Cup qualification draw will be drawn on Friday, but not quite yet for Germany. The process is a little more complicated for the DFB selection.
The short business trip before Christmas will end with unpredictability for Julian Nagelsmann – albeit due to success. The national coach will fly to Zurich on Friday for the qualifying draw for the 2026 World Cup. After the national team made it to the quarter-finals of the Nations League, it is now clear that Nagelsmann will not know exactly which opponents the DFB team will face on the way to the world tournament until the end of March.
Twelve groups will be drawn from five pots at FIFA headquarters (from 12 p.m. in the live ticker on t-online), six with four nations and six with five nations. The game is played in a return game. The group winners qualify directly for the 2026 finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico, while the runners-up play in the playoffs.
Germany is placed in pot 1 and will be drawn twice as a wild card during the draw: once in the event that the DFB team wins the quarter-finals of the Nations League against Italy (March 20th/23rd) and once in the event that they loses. As a winner, Germany would play in one of the six groups of four; as a loser, one of the six groups of five would also be possible. The background is that the quarter-final winners play the Nations League final tournament in June – and have no time for the World Cup qualification.
For Nagelsmann, preparation for World Cup qualification can only really begin after the March games at the earliest. Up to seven opponents can be considered by then. For the national coach, however, this should also be of secondary importance. The declared next goal is to take part in the Nations League final tournament, which will probably be held in Germany. Qualifying for the 2026 World Cup is only an interim step; Nagelsmann wants to win the title in America.
A total of 54 teams are taking part in the World Cup qualification. The four best-placed and not yet qualified group winners in the Nations League also play in the playoffs. Even if the DFB selection did not even come second in its qualifying group, the chance of qualification would still remain due to first place in the table in the Nations League group phase.
Pot 1: Germany, France, Spain, England, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Croatia, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria
Pot 2: Ukraine, Sweden, Turkey, Wales, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Romania, Greece, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Norway
Pot 3: Scotland, Slovenia, Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel
Pot 4: Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Belarus, Kosovo, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Lithuania
Pot 5: Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, San Marino
The group stage of the World Cup qualification begins in March and lasts until November 2025, the play-offs will take place in March 2026. The groups of five start in March, the groups of four only in September 2025 – after the quarter-finals (March) and the final four (June) in the Nations League. The qualifying schedules will be published on Friday evening.
Conditional. Even on the first match day of the qualification, the composition of most groups will not yet be completely known. Participants in the quarter-finals of the Nations League could “choose” their qualifying group – depending on whether they win or lose.