Four tickets to the FIFA World Cup 26™ remain up for grabs for UEFA nations via the play-offs with 16 sides battling it out to secure a place at the 48-team tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The European play-offs are made up of 12 group runners-up and the four best-ranked UEFA Nations League section winners. The 16 participating teams have been drawn into four play-off paths, each consisting of four teams. Each play-off path is composed of two semi-final pairings of one seeded team and one unseeded team.
Within each path, the teams will contest single-legged semi-finals, with the winners of the semi-finals progressing to single-legged finals to determine the final four UEFA representatives at the World Cup, which will take place across 16 vibrant Host Cities from Thursday, 11 June to Sunday, 19 July 2026.
Read on to learn more about the 16 teams still in contention, who they will now face, and how they secured their places in the play-off tournament.
Path A
Italy
Coach: Gennaro Gattuso
Top scorer in qualifying: Mateo Retegui (5)
Previous World Cup participations: 18 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014)
Italy have missed only four World Cups in their history, but two of those have been the most recent – Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 – with the play-offs proving to be their nemesis on both occasions. Home and away defeats to Norway saw the Azzurri finish second in Group I.
Wales
Coach: Craig Bellamy
Top scorer in qualifying: Harry Wilson (5)
Previous World Cup participations: 2 (1958, 2022)
Wales closed their group-stage campaign with a dazzling 7–1 victory over North Macedonia to climb above their opponents and into second place, with captain Harry Wilson scoring a hat-trick. They ended just two points behind Belgium in Group J, with five wins and 21 goals in 8 matches.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Coach: Sergej Barbarez
Top scorer in qualifying: Edin Dzeko (5)
Previous World Cup participations: 1 (2014)
Bosnia and Herzegovina were on the brink of securing automatic World Cup qualification, only to be pegged back by a 77th-minute equaliser in Austria which ensured the hosts would emerge as the winners of Group H. The home defeat at the hands of Ralf Rangnick’s side in September proved pivotal for Edin Dzeko and Co.
Northern Ireland
Coach: Michael O’Neill
Top scorers in qualifying: Donley, Hume, Price, Reid, Charles, Devenny (1)
Previous World Cup participations: 3 (1958, 1982, 1986)
Northern Ireland qualified for the play-offs thanks to their Nations League ranking, having finished third in Group A of European qualification behind Germany and Slovakia, collecting nine points and defeating Luxembourg both home and away.
Path B
Ukraine
Coach: Serhiy Rebrov
Top scorers in qualifying: Malinovskyi, Hutsuliak (3)
Previous World Cup participations: 1 (2006)
Serhiy Rebrov’s side left it very late to secure their play-off place, scoring two goals in the closing seven minutes against Iceland to climb above them in Group D. Ukraine lost only against France in the group stage, both home and away, recording three wins and one draw. Midfielder Ruslan Malinovksyi and winger Oleksii Hutsuliak have been the key men so far.
Poland
Coach: Jan Urban
Top scorer in qualifying: Robert Lewandowski (4)
Previous World Cup participations: 9 (1938, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 2002, 2006, 2018, 2022)
Poland drew home and away with Group G winners the Netherlands, but it was their solitary defeat against Finland which largely contributed to Jan Urban’s side finishing three points adrift of the Dutch, as they look to secure a third successive World Cup appearance and 10th overall.
Albania
Coach: Sylvinho
Top scorer in qualifying: Rey Manaj (3)
Albania are seeking their first-ever qualification for a World Cup, having had to fight hard to finish second in Group K, where England dominated with 24 points. Thanks to the four points they earned against Serbia across their two fixtures, Albania reached 14 points to secure the runners-up place.
Sweden
Coach: Graham Potter
Top scorers in qualifying: Lundgren, Elanga, Ayari, Nygren (1)
Previous World Cup participations: 12 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1958, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1990, 1994, 2002, 2006, 2018)
Sweden struggled badly during their qualification campaign, and have only received a second bite of the cherry due to their Nations League performances. Jon Dahl Tomasson began the campaign at the helm, but was replaced by Graham Potter for the final two matches, with little improvement in results, as they ended Group B with just two points from six matches with Switzerland, Kosovo and Slovenia.
Path C
Türkiye
Coach: Vincenzo Montella
Top scorer in qualifying: Kenan Yildiz (3)
Previous World Cup participations: 2 (1954, 2002)
Türkiye has a new star: Kenan Yildiz was the driving force behind Vincenzo Montella’s team in the UEFA qualifiers, scoring three goals and helping his national team to finish second in Group E, behind only an unstoppable Spain, who they drew with in their final match.
Slovakia
Coach: Francesco Calzona
Top scorers in qualifying: Hancko, Bobcek, Obert, Schranz, Strelec, Rigo (1)
Previous World Cup participations: 1 (2010)
Slovakia went into their final game of the qualification campaign away to Germany level on points with their illustrious opponents, having recorded a shock win against them back in September. A chastening 6-0 defeat saw Francesco Calzona’s men consigned to second, and they must now regroup and recover before the play-offs begin.
Kosovo
Coach: Franco Foda
Top scorer in qualifying: Fisnik Asllani (2)
Kosovo are another side seeking to qualify for the World Cup for the first time, having finished second in Group B behind Switzerland. It was against the Swiss in their opening qualifier that Kosovo lost their only match in the group stage, suffering a costly 4-0 reverse, with three wins and two draws to follow.
Romania
Coach: Mircea Lucescu
Top scorers in qualifying: Man, Tanase, Dragus, Hagi (2)
Previous World Cup participations: 7 (1930, 1934, 1938, 1970, 1990, 1994, 1998)
Romania are another team to qualify on the basis of their Nations League displays, having finished third in Group H, behind Austria and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The team is captained by Ianis Hagi, son of the legendary Gheorghe.
Path D
Denmark
Coach: Brian Riemer
Top scorer in qualifying: Rasmus Hojlund (5)
Previous FWC participations: 6 (1986, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2018, 2022)
Denmark were within minutes of securing automatic qualification to the World Cup, only to see their hopes dashed by Scotland at Hampden Park, where the hosts scored twice in added time to snatch top spot in Group C.
Czechia
Coach: Jaroslav Kostl
Top scorer in qualifying: Patrik Schick (5)
Previous World Cup participations:1 (2006)
Following a surprising setback against the Faroe Islands and challenging matches with group winners Croatia, Czechia finished second in Group L with 16 points. Without a World Cup appearance since 2006, they reached the play-offs before Qatar 2022 thanks to their Nations League ranking but were eliminated by Sweden in the semi-final.
Republic of Ireland
Coach: Heimir Hallgrimsson
Top scorer in qualifying: Troy Parrot (5)
Previous World Cup participations: 3 (1990, 1994, 2002)
The Republic of Ireland largely owe their place in the play-offs to striker Troy Parrott after his five-goal haul in the last two qualifying games. Parrott grabbed a brace in the victory against group winners Portugal and then a hat-trick against Hungary, with his injury-time winner at the Puskas Stadium allowing Ireland to overtake the hosts and snatch second spot.
North Macedonia
Coach: Blagoja Milevski
Top scorer in qualifying: Bojan Miovski (3)
North Macedonia also qualified for the play-offs thanks to their Nations League campaign, having suffered a shock 7-1 defeat at the hands of Wales in their final Group L encounter, which saw them slip to third place behind winners Belgium and Craig Bellamy’s side.
