I accumulated 1 point from 5 rounds of World Cup qualifying, and I’m at the bottom of the group! The UEFA Nations League helped me overtake in a corner and get into the play-offs.

Sweden, a traditional strong team in Europe, during the European preliminaries of this World Cup, the total value of the entire team reached 460 million euros. It is a proper "second-rate team" super giant, with Arsenal striker Dzekeresh and Liverpool's Isaac. On paper, it is not a big problem to advance to the World Cup through the World Cup preliminaries. If they can't advance directly, they can grab the second place in the group and win a play-off spot. However, after 5 rounds of preliminaries, the Swedish team has only won 1 draw and has no victory, occupying the bottom of the group. During this period, the Swedish team scored 3 goals and conceded 11 goals, with a goal difference of -8 goals. It has become one of the biggest upsets in Europe's current World Cup qualifiers. Under normal circumstances, such an ending would not allow them to enter the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup, but they are lucky enough to be born in "Rome".

Sweden has locked in a European play-off spot for the 2026 World Cup in advance. Isn’t it exciting? Because there is a competition called the UEFA Nations League. Let's take a look at the analysis of this strange mechanism: Even if you are at the bottom of the qualifiers, as long as you are strong enough in the UEFA Nations League, you can go directly to the play-offs. UEFA regulations: Among the top players in each level group of the last UEFA Nations League, as long as you do not advance directly in the current World Cup preliminaries, they will issue play-off tickets to the top four based on the overall ranking.

In other words: If the UEFA Nations League plays well, it will have an "insurance policy" for the World Cup. Sweden was the champion of the last UEFA Nations League Group C Group 1 and ranked high. For this insurance to take effect, the top names in other UEFA Nations League groups need to line up first to qualify. This year it really happened: Germany locked in the top two in Group A and did not need to pass the UEFA Nations League; Croatia locked in the first place in the group, allowing the Czech Republic to automatically advance; Spain, France, England, and Portugal also qualified through the normal channels in advance, or guaranteed second place in the group. Therefore, among all the UEFA Nations League top spots, only Sweden, Romania, and Wales were left. When the Czech Republic and Germany confirmed their promotion through the regular qualifiers, Sweden automatically qualified for the play-offs! The qualification for the play-offs has been secured. Sweden will not be eliminated no matter how they play, and they can also play in the play-offs in March next year.