How the 2026 FIFA World Cup play-offs will work

There are six qualification spots up for grabs, with Italy, Denmark, Jamaica, Iraq and more in the mix.

Transcript

00:00Twelve European teams have already secured their place at the FIFA World Cup 2026,

00:09which means four spots are still up for grabs.

00:12Sixteen countries are in contention to claim them.

00:15The twelve group runners up from qualifying,

00:18plus four others based on their results in the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League.

00:24There are four paths that lead to the prize of a FIFA World Cup 2026 place.

00:29The draw will decide the semi-final matchups in each path.

00:34The twelve group runners up are split evenly across pots one to three,

00:39based on their latest FIFA Coca-Cola Men's World Ranking.

00:43The four teams that qualify based on their UEFA Nations League results are in pot four.

00:49The pot one teams will be at home in semi-finals one, three, five or seven as they're drawn.

00:56The pot two countries will go into semi-finals two, four, six or eight and will host the teams from pot three.

01:04Pot four countries will play their semi-final away to the teams in pot one.

01:09Six teams go into the FIFA World Cup 2026 playoff tournament draw,

01:21with dreams of claiming one of two remaining spots at next year's global showpiece in North America.

01:27Four confederations are represented by one team each, and as the FIFA World Cup 2026 host confederation,

01:34CONCACAF has two representatives in the draw.

01:37European teams are not involved, they follow a different qualifying route.

01:42The six countries can take one of two possible paths to the FIFA World Cup 2026.

01:49How they get there is based on the latest FIFA Coca-Cola Men's World Ranking.

01:54The two teams ranked highest automatically advance to the two playoff finals.

02:10Go to the FIFA World Cup 2026.

02:26The first two people ranked highest on FIFA World Cup 2026.