2026 World Cup play-offs: Teams, seedings, permutations, dates, format ahead of final line-up for USA, Canada and Mexico tournament
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Updated 19/11/2025 at 08:29 GMT
Qualifying for the 2026 World Cup is entering the final straight with 48 teams set to compete in an expanded tournament in USA, Canada and Mexico next summer. England are among 12 European teams to qualify thus far, but there is still plenty to play for with nations set to learn their fate in the play-offs. UEFA and inter-confederation draws will take place in Switzerland on Thursday, November 20
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Sixteen European nations - including Wales, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland - will discover their opponents in the high-stakes play-offs for a place at the 2026 World Cup this Thursday.
The draw, set to take place at 12pm UK time in Switzerland, features 12 teams who finished second in their UEFA qualifying groups, alongside the four highest-ranked Nations League group winners who narrowly missed out on a top-two finish.
With just four remaining European World Cup spots available, each nation will face a two-match knockout path to qualification.
Meanwhile, six non-European teams will compete in a separate intercontinental play-off tournament to claim the final two berths: Bolivia, DR Congo, New Caledonia, Iraq, Jamaica and Suriname.
The intercontinental draw will precede the UEFA play-off draw in Zurich.
We have everything you need to know on the World Cup play-off process.
How the European play-offs work
The 16 European teams will be divided into four pots.
The 12 group runners-up from the European qualifiers will be distributed among the top three pots based on FIFA rankings, while the four Nations League group winners will occupy pot four.
Each play-off path - Path A, B, C, and D - will feature one team from each pot.
In the semi-finals, pot one teams face pot four opponents, while pot two and pot three teams play each other.
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Teams in pots one and two will be seeded, while teams in pots three and four are unseeded and face an away semi-final fixture.
Semi-final hosts are predetermined for pot one and pot two teams, and the draw will decide the venue for each path's final. The winner of each path will secure a World Cup spot.
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What are the dates for the World Cup play-offs?
The semi-finals are scheduled to kick off on March 26, 2026, with the finals five days later.
Venues must be confirmed by December 19, 2025. UEFA has also arranged for losing semi-finalists to play an international friendly on the day of the path finals.
| Semi-finals | March 26, 2026 |
| Finals | March 31, 2026 |
World Cup finals draw and schedule
The 2026 World Cup draw takes place on Friday, December 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., at 17:00 UK time (12:00 local time).
Expanding to 48 nations from the traditional 32, this edition will feature automatic qualification for the three host nations - Canada, Mexico, and United States - while other teams earn their places through continental qualifiers.
The tournament itself runs from June 11 to July 19, 2026.
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Qualified teams so far
As of November 19, 2025, the following nations have secured their places at the World Cup:
- Hosts: Canada, Mexico, United States
- Africa: Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia
- Asia: Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Uzbekistan
- Europe: Croatia, England, France, Norway, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium
- Oceania: New Zealand
- South America: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay
- Concacaf: Curacao, Haiti, Panama
Who will compete in the play-offs?
March 2026 will see play-offs for the remaining World Cup spots.
For the intercontinental bracket, Bolivia, New Caledonia, DR Congo and Iraq are already confirmed, with two additional teams to be revealed.
Wales were already guaranteed to be in the play-offs, but their emphatic 7-1 victory over North Macedonia in their final qualifier secured second place in Group J, and earned them a place in pot one, with North Macedonia to be allocated pot four.
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Meanwhile, Scotland's dramatic 4-2 win over Denmark at Hampden Park meant they qualified for their first World Cup since 1998 and condemned the Scandinavians to the play-offs.
As of November 17, 2025, the following nations are guaranteed to play in the World Cup play-offs:
Group runners-up:
- Ukraine
- Republic of Ireland
- Poland
- Slovakia
- Italy
- Albania
- Czech Republic
- Wales
- Denmark
- Kosovo
- Turkey
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
Nations League teams:
- Romania
- Sweden
- Northern Ireland
- North Macedonia
How do the inter-confederation play-offs work?
The six play-off teams are ranked according to their FIFA world ranking, and the top two will go directly to one final each.
The four lowest-ranked teams will be drawn and face off to determine who goes through to Final A and Final B to face one of the two highest seeds.
The winners of Final A and Final B will each qualify for the finals.
Confirmed nations:
- Bolivia
- DR Congo
- New Caledonia
- Iraq
- Jamaica
- Suriname
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