Two wins until the World Cup
©IMAGO
The playoffs for the remaining four World Cup tickets for Europe have been drawn. Italy faces Northern Ireland, Turkey faces Romania and Denmark faces North Macedonia. Ukraine also has to deal with Sweden.
The other games are Poland against Albania, Wales against Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic against Ireland and Slovakia against Kosovo.
There are four mini-tournaments, each with a World Cup ticket waiting for the winner. The teams from the first two pots enjoy home advantage in the semi-finals – who will host the final was also drawn. The winner from Wales/Bosnia then plays against Italy/Northern Ireland, Ukraine or Sweden has a duel against Poland or Albania, Slovakia or Kosovo has to compete with Turkey or Romania and the Czech Republic or Ireland fights against Denmark or North Macedonia for a ticket. There are no return games.
Pot 1: Italy, Denmark, Türkiye, Ukraine
Pot 2: Poland, Wales, Czech Republic, Slovakia
Pot 3: Albania, Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo
Pot 4: Sweden, Romania, North Macedonia, Northern Ireland
Among the playoff participants, Turkey currently has the fourth most valuable squad after Italy (€846 million), Sweden (517 million) and Denmark (399 million). The playoff semi-finals will be played on March 26th and the four finals on March 31st, 2026.
Two further World Cup tickets will be awarded to the world associations outside of UEFA via the international playoff route. In the first semi-final, New Caledonia will face Jamaica (March 23) – the winner of this duel will play against DR Congo (March 31) for a place in the finals. The winner of the pairing Bolivia – Suriname (March 23) will face Iraq (March 31) in the second final. All games will be played in Mexico.