[Football] World Cup 2026 Qualifying Draw

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

Taking place now.

Stream: https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments...26/articles/uefa-preliminary-draw-live-stream

Pot 1: Spain, Germany, Portugal, France, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Croatia, England, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria.

Pot 2: Ukraine, Sweden, Turkey, Wales, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, Czechia, Norway.

Pot 3: Scotland, Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Israel.

Pot 4: Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Kosovo, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Lithuania.

Pot 5: Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, San Marino.

How the Uefa draw will work​

There will be 12 qualifying groups – six with five teams, and six with four teams – with teams playing each other home and away, and only the group winner going through automatically. The runners-up (plus four teams with the best Nations League records) will go into the playoffs for the final four European spots at the 48-team finals.

Teams are seeded in five pots (details of those to follow) – one slight wrinkle is that teams who reach the Nations League semi-finals must go into a four-team group. As the quarter-finals have not been played yet, those teams can’t be fully allocated today. For instance, Italy play Germany in the last eight, so both teams will be pencilled in to a four- and five- team group, with the winner of the tie going into the four-team group.

The games will be held across five international breaks, on 21-25 March, 6-10 June, 4-9 September, 9-14 October and 13-18 November 2025.

 

[Motogull]

I'd love our group to include:
Wales
Scotland/NI
Faroes
Gibraltar

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

We're about to find out our first opponent. Right now there's a 33% chance it will be Wales!

Edit: Nope, Czechia or Serbia

2nd Edit: It's Serbia.

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

Got Albania as opponent 2

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

Full group (K)

England
Serbia
Albania
Latvia
Andorra

 

[Eeyore]

Full group (K)

England
Serbia
Albania
Latvia
Andorra

Usual stuff then. Win at home and draw away against Serbia and Albania. Beat the other two home and away.

Many a slip though.

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

Fairly dreary weatherwise, would have preferred the sunshine, Mediterranean draw that could of been:

England, Greece, Montenegro, Cyprus, Malta

 

[Han Solo]

Happy with the Swedish draw. Switzerland, Slovenia and Kosovo. Pretty much as good as it could get.

 

[Is it PotG?]

 

[hart's shirt]

Fairly dreary weatherwise, would have preferred the sunshine, Mediterranean draw that could of been:

England, Greece, Montenegro, Cyprus, Malta

That would've been lovely.

As well as all home games, I'm hoping to do at least one away fixture to move above 6,000 ESTC members on the same number of loyalty caps as me!

 

[Arthur]

Great draw for me as I've only done Andorra out of that lot and that was held in Barcelona so could be 4 new countries.....if I get a ticket......which is highly unlikely.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Full group (K)

England
Serbia
Albania
Latvia
Andorra

That's odd, England appear to have a soft draw

 

[Roadrunner]

Great draw for me as I've only done Andorra out of that lot and that was held in Barcelona so could be 4 new countries.....if I get a ticket......which is highly unlikely.

Yes, I am in the same boat...

(Possible away allocations)
Pot 2 - Serbia 53,000 (2,850)
Pot 3 - Albania 22,500 (1,125)
Pot 4 - Latvia 10,400 (520)
Pot 5 - Andorra 3,300 (165, although we got 993 last time)

I need an allocation of around 3,500 to be guaranteed a ticket, given the FA 70:30 rule.

 

[Arthur]

Yes, I am in the same boat...

(Possible away allocations)
Pot 2 - Serbia 53,000 (2,850)
Pot 3 - Albania 22,500 (1,125)
Pot 4 - Latvia 10,400 (520)
Pot 5 - Andorra 3,300 (165, although we got 993 last time)

I need an allocation of around 3,500 to be guaranteed a ticket, given the FA 70:30 rule.

Even more depressing/unlikely than I thought.

Can you imagine what this board would be like if they had to experience the farce that is the England ticket resale!!

I was 315th in the queue for Greece with 650 tickets available and still didn't get one. Doubt I'll rejoin next term because it's pointless.

 

[Roadrunner]

Even more depressing/unlikely than I thought.

Can you imagine what this board would be like if they had to experience the farce that is the England ticket resale!!

I was 315th in the queue for Greece with 650 tickets available and still didn't get one. Doubt I'll rejoin next term because it's pointless.

I've come to the conclusion that allocations for 2026 will be more than enough to guarantee tickets for myself, so I'll not be busting a gut to accumulate more 'caps' during this next qualifying period. The home games are going to be really hard work, nothing there at all to get excited about. It's all about keeping high enough in the caps table for the home nations tournament in 2030 for me. Might call it a day after that.

 

[Sorrel]

Serbia / Albania odds-on for two behind closed-doors matches.

 

[hart's shirt]

Even more depressing/unlikely than I thought.

Can you imagine what this board would be like if they had to experience the farce that is the England ticket resale!!

I was 315th in the queue for Greece with 650 tickets available and still didn't get one. Doubt I'll rejoin next term because it's pointless.

Absolutely right. We'd never hear the end of it.

I logged on approximately 3-4 seconds after 12 noon for the Greece resale, was 552nd in the queue for the 650 and like you didn't get one.

 

[PeterT]

I liked the way they referred to ‘travel restrictions’ during the draw. I’d have loved Spain and Gibraltar to be drawn together and then let them explain what ‘travel restrictions’ really means, ie that one coloniser with its own questionable outposts has a 320 year chip on its shoulder that puts it in the same category as what’s going on in Ukraine or the aftermath of the Balkans conflict.

 

[WhingForPresident]

Didn't think Serbia and Albania were allowed to be drawn together... Surely those games will be behind closed doors. Wouldn't bet against both sides being kicked out of the competition if not.

 

[PeterT]

Didn't think Serbia and Albania were allowed to be drawn together... Surely those games will be behind closed doors. Wouldn't bet against both sides being kicked out of the competition if not.

Sounds like Danny Dyer could do a follow up series at that one!