The draw for the play-off round of the International Football Federation (FIFA) was held at 7 p.m. (Vietnam time) in Zurich, Switzerland. This is the final round to find the 6 owners of the remaining tickets to attend the biggest football festival on the planet.
2 attractive tickets to the intercontinental play-off round
The draw began with the intercontinental play-off round. This group includes 6 teams: Bolivia, Iraq, Jamaica, New Caledonia, Suriname and DR Congo, competing for 2 World Cup spots. According to FIFA, because of their higher positions than the remaining teams, Iraq (representing Asia, ranked 57th in the world) and DR Congo (Africa, ranked 60th in the world) will go straight to the final, only needing to play 1 match to determine a ticket to the 2026 World Cup.
The remaining four teams, Jamaica (ranked 68), Bolivia (76), Suriname (126) and New Caledonia (150), will compete in the semi-finals. According to the draw, New Caledonia will meet Jamaica in the first semi-final and the winner will face DR Congo. Meanwhile, the remaining semi-final will be between Bolivia and Suriname. The winner of this match will face Iraq.
The intercontinental play-offs are scheduled to be played with the semi-finals on March 23 and the final on March 31, 2026. All matches will also be played in Mexico.
Intercontinental play-off matches
PHOTO: SCREENSHOT
Italy faces risk of missing 3 consecutive World Cups
In Europe, the play-off round to find 4 tickets to the 2026 World Cup promises to be equally dramatic. This round has the participation of 16 teams, including 12 second-placed teams from the European qualifying groups and the 4 top teams of the UEFA Nations League 2024 - 2025. The second-placed teams are: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Kosovo, Poland, Ireland, Slovakia, Türkiye, Ukraine, Wales. Meanwhile, the teams qualified through the Nations League are Romania, Sweden, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia.
According to FIFA's format, the 16 teams are divided into four seed pots: Pot 1 includes Italy, Denmark, Turkey and Ukraine. This group will be drawn against Pot 4 opponents Romania, Sweden, North Macedonia and Northern Ireland. Pot 2 teams including Poland, Wales, Czech Republic and Slovakia will be drawn against Pot 3 including Ireland, Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kosovo.
The draw has placed Italy in Group A and they will face Northern Ireland in the semi-finals. If they win this match, Italy will face the winner of the match between Wales and Bosnia & Herzegovina. After two consecutive absences from the World Cup, this is considered a big challenge for the team in blue as the teams in this group all have strong squads in Europe.
The Italian team continues to fall into a difficult bracket.
PHOTO: REUTERS
In bracket B, the number 1 seed Ukraine will face a very strong opponent, Sweden. If they overcome Sweden, Ukraine will face the winner of the match between Poland and Albania.
In bracket C, Turkey will face Romania in the semi-finals. The winner of this match will advance to the final, where they will face the winner of the match between Slovakia and Kosovo.
In the final bracket, Denmark will face North Macedonia and will face the winner of the Czech Republic vs Ireland match.
The European play-offs are scheduled to be a single-elimination, home-and-away format. The top seeds will play the play-off semi-finals at home. In each round, the semi-final winners will advance to the play-off final. Each final will be drawn in advance to determine the semi-final winners who will play at home. The semi-finals will take place on 26 March, while the final is scheduled for 31 March 2026.
As of November 19, 42/48 teams have qualified for the 2026 World Cup, including the three co-host teams of the US, Mexico and Canada, and 39 teams that have qualified.
In which, Asia region (8 teams) is Japan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Korea, Jordan, Australia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia.
6 teams from South America are Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay and Paraguay; 1 team from Oceania is New Zealand.
The nine teams from the African region are Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.
Europe Zone (12 teams): Austria, Belgium, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain and Switzerland.
CONCACAF (3 teams): Panama, Curacao and Haiti.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/play-off-lien-luc-dia-cang-thang-doi-tuyen-y-nguy-co-vang-mat-o-world-cup-2026-185251120201019903.htm
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