The anticipation is building for the European play-off draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, scheduled to take place at FIFA headquarters on Thursday, November 20. The draw ceremony will commence at 13:00 CET and will establish the eight play-off semi-finals along with four potential final match-ups, all set to be contested in March 2026.
A total of sixteen teams will contend in these European play-offs: twelve teams that finished as runners-up in their respective European Qualifiers groups, alongside four teams that qualified through the 2024/25 UEFA Nations League. The group runners-up include notable teams such as Italy, Denmark, Poland, and Wales. Additionally, Romania, Sweden, Northern Ireland, and North Macedonia earned their spots via the Nations League qualifiers.
The European play-offs feature a single-leg knockout format, where the semi-finals will see seeded and unseeded teams face off. Each path will have two semi-final pairings, classified as Pot 1 versus Pot 4 and Pot 2 versus Pot 3. The winners of each semi-final will progress to the play-off finals, which will determine the final participants from Europe for the World Cup.
The playoff semi-finals are scheduled for March 26, 2026, with the finals following on March 31, 2026. The draw will categorize teams into four pots according to their FIFA World Rankings. The top-seeded teams, such as Italy and Turkey, are placed in Pot 1, while the rest are distributed across the remaining pots based on their rankings.
Excitement runs high as fans eagerly await the outcomes of the draw, knowing that the successful teams will join the twelve directly qualified nations, which include football powerhouses like France, England, and Germany, at the tournament in 2026. With a rich history and competitive spirit in international football, the European play-offs promise to deliver thrilling encounters that could see emerging teams rise to prominence on the world stage.