2026 World Cup Qualifying

[PaokCT]

POT 1	POT 2	POT 3	POT 4	POT 5
Germany	Ukraine	Scotland	Bulgaria	Moldova
Spain	Turkey	Slovenia	Luxembourg	Malta
Italy	Sweden	Republic of Ireland	Belarus	Andorra
Portugal	Wales	Albania	Armenia	Gibraltar
France	Poland	Finland	Kosovo	Liechtenstein
Denmark	Hungary	Georgia	Kazakhstan	San Marino
Croatia	Serbia	North Macedonia	Azerbaijan
Netherlands	Slovakia	Iceland	Estonia
England	Greece	Northern Ireland	Cyprus
Belgium	Romania	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Latvia
Switzerland	Czechia	Montenegro	Faroe Islands
Austria	Norway	Israel	Lithuania

 

Unfortunately, since we are playing in the Nations League playoffs, we will be in a 4 team WCQ group. All teams in Nations League playoffs will be drawn in 4 team WCQ group. That means we will get drawn with either Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, France, Denmark, Croatia, Netherlands, Belgium. Based on this, I don't think its possible to get Austria or Switzerland as our pot 1 opponent. Give me Denmark, Croatia, or Belgium as our POT 1 opponent. 

 

Easiest Group imo : Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Faroe Islands

Hardest Group : France, Greece, Scotland, Bulgaria

Edited November 18 by PaokCT

[HellasLEAF]

It's nice to be a pot 2 team again.  It's a good sign we are back in the right direction.  

[Antaeus7]

Denmark is no cakewalk, going to be very difficult. 

[PaokCT]

Unfortunately we probably will not have a second chance at the WC if we don’t qualify. Cause we finished 2nd in our group in nations league. All group Winners will be given priority including Northern Ireland, Moldova and San Marino

[paokarag4]

Yeah seems that is the way it shakes out unfortunately. So we need to come top 2 in our qualifying group. Top is automatic qualification and 2nd guarantees us a play-off spot.

Despite this expanded WC format from 2026 onwards, it is still tough to qualify from Europe. UEFA's allocation only increased from 13 to 16, which means it is still a tough road and good teams will miss out on the WC coming from Europe. 

[PaokCT]

At this rate, it’s better to be in league C and dominate and win rather than A or B and finish 2nd. I saw Polish journalists are bashing the system and I agree. How does the winner of league D get an easier road to the playoffs than 2nd in league A

[Ellada2004]

On 11/20/2024 at 6:42 PM, paokarag4 said:

Yeah seems that is the way it shakes out unfortunately. So we need to come top 2 in our qualifying group. Top is automatic qualification and 2nd guarantees us a play-off spot.

Despite this expanded WC format from 2026 onwards, it is still tough to qualify from Europe. UEFA's allocation only increased from 13 to 16, which means it is still a tough road and good teams will miss out on the WC coming from Europe. 

Definitely Europe is still extremely tough to qualify from even with the extra spots added. It ain’t like playing in CONCACAF we’re it’s a walk in the park.