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The European qualifying draw ceremony for the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be held in America, Mexico and Canada was held on Friday at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.
Following the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams from 2026, the number of seats allocated to European teams has increased from 13 to 16.
The European qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup will be held from March 2025 to November 2025, and will be held in the usual group system, with direct qualification to the World Cup going to the top of each group.
The remaining four European seats will be decided next March when the 16-team European play-offs are held.
The teams that qualified for the last eight of the UEFA Nations League (Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain), as well as the top-ranked European teams (England, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria) were included in the first ranking.
The results of the draw were as follows:
Group A: (winner of Germany or Italy), Slovakia, Northern Ireland, Luxembourg.
Group B: Switzerland, Sweden, Slovenia, Kosovo.
Group C: (loser of Portugal and Denmark), Greece, Scotland, Belarus.
Group IV: (Winner of France and Croatia), Ukraine, Iceland, Azerbaijan.
Group V: (Winner of Spain and the Netherlands), Turkey, Georgia, Bulgaria.
Group VI: (Winner of Portugal and Denmark), Hungary, Ireland, Armenia.
Group VII: (loser of Spain and Netherlands), Poland, Finland, Finland, Lithuania, Malta.
Group Eight: Austria, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, San Marino.
Group IX: (loser of Germany and Italy), Norway, Israel, Estonia, Moldova.
Group X: Belgium, Wales, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein.
Group XI: England, Serbia, Albania, Latvia, Andorra.
Group XII: (loser of France and Croatia), Czech Republic, Montenegro, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar.
The European play-off comprises 16 teams, the 12 runners-up of the group stage of the qualifiers, and the four highest-ranked teams from the 2024-2025 UEFA Nations League group leaders that did not directly qualify for the World Cup.
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