Overview
- UEFA’s 16-team play-offs feature the 12 European qualifying group runners-up plus four Nations League group winners competing for four World Cup places.
- Italy, Denmark, Türkiye and Ukraine are top seeds set to host semifinals against Nations League entrants Romania, Sweden, North Macedonia and Northern Ireland.
- Poland, Wales, Czech Republic and Slovakia have semifinal home rights from the second pot against Republic of Ireland, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.
- The draw in Zürich establishes four brackets with single-leg semifinals (Pot 1 vs Pot 4, Pot 2 vs Pot 3) and single-leg finals in March 2026, with final hosts determined by draw.
- Sweden reach the play-offs via the Nations League despite finishing last in their qualifying group, while Germany are already through to the finals and projected for Pot 1; the draw streams live on fifa.com and FIFA’s YouTube channel.