European Qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup: All you need to know
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
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Sixteen UEFA nations will compete at the 48-team FIFA World Cup finals in Canada, Mexico and the United States. Check out the competition format and how the qualifiers will be decided.
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The European Qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup are scheduled to begin in March 2025 and end with the play-offs in March 2026.
How do European Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup work?
Teams will be drawn into 12 groups of four and five teams in Zurich on Friday 13 December 2024, with traditional home-and-away matches and "all play all" principles retained.
Teams drawn in groups of five will begin qualifying in March and teams drawn in groups of four start their campaigns in September. All groups conclude in November 2025.
The 12 group winners qualify directly for the World Cup; the four remaining berths are determined by play-offs involving the 12 group runners-up.
2026 World Cup: host cities
The finals will be staged across 16 cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States:
United States (11): Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle
Mexico (3): Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey
Canada (2): Toronto, Vancouver
The final will be held in New York on 19 July 2026
How do play-offs for the 2026 World Cup work?
The 12 group runners-up participate in the play-offs, along with the four best-ranked group winners of the 2024/25 UEFA Nations League that did not finish their European Qualifiers group stage in first or second place.
The 16 teams who enter the play-offs will be drawn into four play-off paths, with four teams in each. Play-off matches will be played in single-leg semi-finals followed by single-leg finals within the same international window in March 2026.
When is 2026 World Cup qualifying?
Group stage draw
13 December 2024
Group stage match dates
March to November 2025
Play-off match dates
26-31 March 2026
Final tournament dates
11 June to 19 July 2026