- By Namrata Vijay
- Fri, 06 Jun 2025 08:47 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
European Qualifiers For 2026 FIFA World Cup: The European qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup would be held between March 2025 and March 2026 and the playoffs would be held in March 2026.
How do European Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup work?
The teams had been divided into 12 groups of four and five way back in December last year. These groups consist of teams from the UEFA Nations League quarterfinal match, where the four winners were put in groups of four.
The qualifiers began in March this year, and the teams which were divided into groups of four will begin their stints later this year. They would be participating in home and away matches and all the group stage matches would end by November this year.
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World Cup qualifying draw
Group A: Germany, Slovakia, Northern Ireland, Luxembourg
Group B: Switzerland, Sweden, Slovenia, Kosovo
Group C: Denmark, Greece, Scotland, Belarus
Group D: France, Ukraine, Iceland, Azerbaijan
Group E: Spain, Türkiye, Georgia, Bulgaria
Group F: Portugal, Hungary, Republic of Ireland, Armenia
Group G: Netherlands, Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Malta
Group H: Austria, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, San Marino
Group I: Italy, Norway, Israel, Estonia, Moldova
Group J: Belgium, Wales, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein
Group K: England, Serbia, Albania, Latvia, Andorra
Group L: Croatia, Czechia, Montenegro, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar
How many European teams qualify for the 2026 World Cup?
Overall 16 UEFA Nations would be qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The 12-group winners would directly qualify for the World Cup and the other four teams would be featured in the playoffs, where the 12-group runners would be seen in action.
How do playoffs for the 2026 World Cup work?
The 12 group runners-up would be seen in action during the playoffs with the four best-ranked group winners of the 2024/25 UEFA Nations League that didn't end up in the first or the second position of their European Qualifier group.
The 16 teams who have qualified for the playoffs would be divided into four playoff groups with four teams each in it. The playoff matches would be held in single-leg semifinal and single-leg summit clashes during the same international window in March next year.
World Cup 2026 European qualifiers: Key dates
Group stage draw
13 December 2024
Group stage match dates
March to November 2025
Play-off match dates
26 & 31 March 2026
Final tournament dates
11 June to 19 July 2026
World Cup 2026 host cities
The summit clash would be held in 16 cities across Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
United States (11): Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle
Mexico (3): Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey
Canada (2): Toronto, Vancouver
The summit clash would be held in New York in July next year.
