World Cup 2026 play-off draw: Italy 'avoids' 2 evil spirits

The bracket of the teams participating in the intercontinental play-off round.

At the beginning of the draw, FIFA divided the groups and pairs of the intercontinental play-off round. Iraq and the Republic of Congo are the two best-ranked teams of the six, so they will be in two different groups and will only have to play one match. Of the six teams participating in this round, Bolivia, the Republic of Congo, Jamaica and Iraq are teams that have participated in the World Cup finals.

Iraq will face either Suriname or Bolivia in the decisive match for a ticket to the biggest football festival on the planet. In the other bracket, the Republic of Congo will face either Jamaica or New Caledonia.

Following the draw for the intercontinental play-offs, FIFA has divided the brackets and match-ups for the European play-offs. The 16 European teams have been divided into four seeding pots and there will be four brackets in this round, each containing four teams.

In the first draw, Italy will face Northern Ireland in the semi-finals. If they overcome them, the four-time world champions will face Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina. Gattuso and his team have avoided facing Sweden and North Macedonia, two teams that kept Italy out of the World Cup in 2018 and 2022.

However, Northern Ireland or Wales could cause Italy trouble in the play-offs. Northern Ireland indirectly cost Italy their World Cup places in 1958 and 2022.

The 2026 World Cup play-off matches will take place during the national team training camp in March 2026.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/boc-tham-vong-play-off-world-cup-2026-italia-ne-2-hung-than-post1798081.tpo