UEFA Preliminary Draw tees up titanic tussles

The road to the FIFA World Cup 26™ 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 sections will only have a confirmed Pot 1 team after March’s UEFA Nations League (UNL) quarter-finals, as outlined in more detail in the draw procedures.

FIFA World Cup 26™: UEFA Preliminary Draw results

Group A

Winner Italy – Germany (UNL QF4)
Slovakia
Northern Ireland
Luxembourg

Group B

Switzerland
Sweden
Slovenia
Kosovo

Group C

Defeated team Denmark – Portugal (UNL QF3)
Greece
Scotland
Belarus

Group D

Winner Croatia – France (UNL QF2)
Ukraine
Iceland
Azerbaijan

Group E

Winner Netherlands – Spain (UNL QF1)
Türkiye
Georgia
Bulgaria

Group F

Winner Denmark – Portugal (UNL QF3)
Hungary
Republic of Ireland
Armenia

Group G

Defeated team Netherlands – Spain (UNL QF1)
Poland
Finland
Lithuania
Malta

Group H

Austria
Romania
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Cyprus
San Marino

Group I

Defeated team Italy – Germany (UNL QF4)
Norway
Israel
Estonia
Moldova

Group J

Belgium
Wales
North Macedonia
Kazakhstan
Liechtenstein

Group K

England
Serbia
Albania
Latvia
Andorra

Group L

Defeated team Croatia – France (UNL QF2)
Czechia
Montenegro
Faroe Islands
Gibraltar

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™.

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.