The World Cup play-off matches are announced! 22 teams compete for the last 6 seats, Italy avoids the two major victims

On the evening of November 20, FIFA held a draw ceremony for the 2026 World Cup intercontinental play-offs and European play-offs at its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. 22 teams will compete for the last six seats in the main draw. After the draw, Italy successfully avoided the two bitter hosts, Sweden and North Macedonia, and the game will be held in March next year.

The first thing to be done is the European play-off draw, which is a competition for the second place in the 12 European groups in the World Cup preliminaries and the top four teams in the UEFA Nations League. These 16 teams will be divided into 4 divisions, and the 4 teams in each division will compete in two single-round semi-finals and one single-round final; the higher-ranked team in the world will become the first-tier team, and the team that enters the play-offs through the UEFA Nations League will automatically enter the fourth tier. The first pot will play against the teams in the fourth pot, and the second pot will play against the third pot. The teams in the first two pots will have the home court advantage.

The European play-off brackets are as follows:

First pot: Italy (12), Denmark (21), Turkey (25), Ukraine (28)

Second pot: Poland (31), Wales (32), Czech Republic (44), Slovakia (45)

Third pot: Ireland (59), Albany Asia (63), Bosnia and Herzegovina (71), Kosovo (80)

UEFA Nations League channel

Fourth pot: Romania, Sweden, North Macedonia, Northern Ireland

After the draw, the groupings were officially announced:

Division A

Semi-final 1: Italy vs Northern Ireland

Semi-final 2: Wales Serbia vs Bosnia and Herzegovina

Division B

Semi-final 3: Ukraine vs Sweden

Semi-final 4: Poland vs Albania

Division C

Semi-final 5: Turkey vs Romania

Semi-final 6: Slovakia vs Kosovo

Division D

Semi-final 7: Denmark vs North Macedonia

Semi-final 8: Czech Republic vs. Ireland

It is worth mentioning that Italy successfully avoided Sweden and North Macedonia in the fourth pot; the Azzurri lost to Sweden in the 2018 play-offs and missed the World Cup in Russia; and fell into the play-offs again in 2022 and were eliminated by North Macedonia; such a draw may greatly increase Italy's hopes of returning to the World Cup.

The intercontinental play-off draw matches are:

Semi-final vs. 1

New Caledonia vs. Jamaica

Winner vs. Democratic Congo

Semi-final vs. 2

Bolivia v s Suriname

Winner vs. Iraq

Because the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Iraq have higher world rankings; so the 2 teams directly enter the finals; the other 4 teams will play 2 semi-finals, and the winner will play a single knockout match with the two seeded teams to directly compete for the last two World Cup seats.