Zurich: The road to the FIFA World Cup 2026 has been mapped out for Europe’s 54 hopefuls at the UEFA preliminary draw in Zurich. A record-high number of 16 places are up for grabs for UEFA representatives at the historic 48-team showpiece in Canada, Mexico and the USA.
Eight of the 12 groups will only have a confirmed Pot 1 team after March’s UEFA Nations League quarter-finals as the winners and losers of the matchups will be placed in different groups. Enthralling encounters are already guaranteed, with England-Serbia, Switzerland-Sweden and Belgium-Wales just a few of the mouth-watering matches in store.
The UEFA qualifying group stage will begin in March 2025 and conclude in November 2025. It will follow a familiar format, with 12 groups of four or five teams, and the group winners securing a place at the FIFA World Cup 2026.
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.
FIFA World Cup 2026: UEFA preliminary draw results
Group A: Winner of Italy vs Germany (QF4), Slovakia, Northern Ireland, Luxembourg
Group B: Switzerland, Sweden, Slovenia, Kosovo
Group C: Loser of Denmark vs Portugal (QF3), Greece, Scotland, Belarus
Group D: Winner of Croatia vs France (QF2), Ukraine, Iceland, Azerbaijan
Group E: Winner of Netherlands vs Spain (QF1), Turkiye, Georgia, Bulgaria
Group F: Winner of Denmark vs Portugal (QF3), Hungary, Republic of Ireland, Armenia
Group G: Loser of Netherlands vs Spain ( QF1), Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Malta
Group H: Austria, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, San Marino
Group I: Loser of Italy vs Germany (QF4), Norway, Israel, Estonia, Moldova
Group J: Belgium, Wales, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein
Group K: England, Serbia, Albania, Latvia, Andorra
Group L: Loser of Croatia vs France (QF2), Czechia, Montenegro, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar
–IANS
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