FIFA headquarters to host Play-Off Tournament and European Play-Off draws.

The final pathways to the game-changing FIFA World Cup 2026 will be mapped out when the draw for the FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-Off Tournament and the European Play-Off draw take place at the Home of FIFA in Zurich, Switzerland, on Thursday, 20th November 2025.

The draws will define the routes the 22 competing nations, 06 via the Play-Off Tournament and 16 through European Play-Off matches, will need to successfully navigate to seal a spot at the first-ever 48 team FIFA World Cup, which will be staged in Canada, Mexico and the United States from Thursday, 11th June to Sunday, 19th July 2026.

The draws will be staged back-to-back, with the draw for the FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-Off Tournament commencing at 13:00 CET, followed by the European Play-Off equivalent.

The draws will take place just two days after the completion of the November 2025 International Match Window, which promises to be another action-packed period as the list of qualified nations for the 23rd edition of the FIFA World Cup continues to take shape.

28 teams have already booked their places at next year’s historic tournament, with a further 14 nations, 03 from Concacaf and 11 from UEFA are set to punch their tickets to the finals via confederation qualifying this month.

The November international window will also define which teams from the AFC, CAF and Concacaf will join Bolivia (CONMEBOL) and New Caledonia (the OFC) at the six-nation FIFA Play-Off Tournament, as well as the 16 countries that will compete in the European Play-Offs, during the International Match Window from 23rd to 31st March 2026.

The FIFA Play-Off Tournament will feature two finals where the winners of the two semi-finals between the unseeded teams will face the two seeded teams, with the eventual winners securing two spots at the FIFA World Cup 2026.

The European Play-Offs will be made up of 12 group runners-up and the 04 best-ranked UEFA Nations League section winners. The 16 teams who enter will be drawn into 04 play-off paths, with 04 teams in each. Play-off matches will be played in single-leg semi-finals followed by single-leg finals to decide Europe’s final four FIFA World Cup 2026 participants.

To ensure both draws can be conducted in accordance with the relevant draw procedures, the next edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking will be published on Wednesday, 19th November 2025.

Draw procedures for the FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-Off Tournament:

The Draw for the FIFA World Cup 26 Play-Off Tournament, scheduled to be held in Zurich,

Switzerland on 20th November 2025, will determine how the 06 qualified teams will be divided into

two pathways of 03 teams each to determine the last 02 teams to qualify for the FIFA World Cup 26. The FIFA World Cup 26 Play-Off Tournament is scheduled for 23rd – 31st March 2026 at a

centralised venue, to be confirmed at a later date.

1. PARTICPATING TEAMS:

A total of 06 teams from the AFC, CAF, Concacaf, CONMEBOL and the OFC will participate in the FIFA World Cup 26 Play-Off Tournament.

• PLAY-OFF TOURNAMENT COMPETITION FORMAT:

The FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-Off Tournament will consist of two pathways, one for each of the two

remaining slots at the FIFA World Cup 26.

The 02 teams seeded first and second on the basis of the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking issued prior to the draw will be automatically allocated to the respective play-off finals according to the pathways below.

The 04 teams ranked three to six on the basis of the above-mentioned FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking will play in either Match 1 or Match 2. The winners of Match 1 and Match 2 will advance to the play-off finals in their respective pathways:

The winners of these two play-off finals will secure the last two qualification slots for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

The FIFA World Cup 26 Play-Off Tournament will be played in single-leg knockout matches. FIFA will

confirm the venue(s) and match schedule for the FIFA World Cup 26 Play-Off Tournament, including

the dates and kick-off times for all matches at a later date.

• POT ALLOCATION:

As mentioned above, according to the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking issued prior to the draw on 20th November 2025, the team seeded first will be automatically allocated to play-off final 1 as Team A, and the team seeded second will be automatically allocated to play-off final 2 as Team A. The 04 remaining teams, ranked from third to sixth, will be allocated to the team pot. 

• DRAW PROCEDURES:

The team pot will contain four draw balls, representing the teams ranked third to sixth. The draw will start by drawing the first ball from the team pot and allocating it to Match 1 as Playoff Team 1. The draw will continue by drawing the remaining balls and allocating the teams to the first available match and pathway in accordance with the draw constraints below.

• DRAW CONSTRAINTS:

FIFA’s general principle, whenever possible, is to ensure that no pathway has more than one team from the same confederation drawn into it.

Draw procedures for the European Play-Offs for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

Following the approval of the competition format in August 2023, the second stage of the European

preliminary competition to determine the four remaining European slots for the FIFA World Cup 2026

will be organised in play-offs with 16 teams participating. 

1. PARTICPATING TEAMS:

16 teams will participate in the European play-offs for the FIFA World Cup 26, of which 12 are the runners-up from the European Qualifiers (EQ) group stage.

To complete the line-up of the play-offs, the 04 additional teams selected on the basis of the interim overall UEFA Nations League (UNL) 2024/25 rankings are the best-ranked group winners that have neither qualified directly for the final competition as EQ group winners, nor entered the playoffs already as EQ group runners-up.

If fewer than 04 UNL group winners can be selected, any remaining slot(s) will be allocated to the best-ranked team(s), as determined by the interim overall UNL 2024/25 rankings, that have neither

qualified directly for the final competition as EQ group winners, nor entered the play-offs already as

EQ group runners-up.

• PLAY-OFF COMPETITION FORMAT:

Four paths will be formed, each containing 02 Semi-finals and 01 Final:

Play-off Path A	Play-off semi-final 1	Play-off final A
	Play-off semi-final 2
Play-off Path B	Play-off semi-final 3	Play-off final B
	Play-off semi-final 4
Play-off Path C	Play-off semi-final 5	Play-off final C
	Play-off semi-final 6
Play-off Path D	Play-off semi-final 7	Play-off final D
	Play-off semi-final 8

Each play-off path is composed of two semi-final pairings of one seeded team and one unseeded

team: Pot 1 vs. Pot 4 and Pot 2 vs. Pot 3.

The seeded teams will be drawn to play the play-off semi-final at home. Within each path, the winners of the semi-finals advance to the play-off final. For each play-off final, a draw is conducted in advance to determine which semi-final winner will play at home.

The play-offs are played in single-leg knockout matches. The UEFA administration compiles the fixture list for the EQ play-offs, including the dates and kick-off times for all play-off matches. In principle, the semi-finals take place on Thursday, 26th March, and the finals on Tuesday, 31st March 2026. UEFA’s standard kick-off times of 20:45 CET or 18:00 CET shall be applied.

• POT ALLOCATION:

Once the 16 teams constituting the play-offs have been determined, the 12 runners-up of the EQ group stage will be ranked 1st to 12th on the basis of the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking issued

prior to the draw in November 2025, and the four teams having qualified from the UEFA Nations

League 2024/25 will be ranked 13th to 16th

Based on these rankings (1st to 16th), the 16 teams are divided into four pots as follows:

a. Pot 1 is composed of the top-seeded EQ teams ranked 1st to 4th

b. Pot 2 is composed of the seeded EQ teams ranked 5th to 8th

c. Pot 3 is composed of the unseeded EQ teams ranked 9th to 12th

d. Pot 4 is composed of the unseeded UNL teams ranked 13th to 16th

• DRAW PROCEDURES:

The draw starts with Pot 1 and ends with Pot 4. The four play-off paths are formed as follows:

a. Pot 1: the four top-seeded EQ teams are allocated to semi-finals 1, 3, 5 and 7 in the order drawn.

b. Pot 2: the four seeded EQ teams are drawn to the first available position of semi-finals 2, 4, 6 and 8, taking into account any applicable draw condition valid at the time of the draw (including countries who cannot play each other in a potential play-off final).

c. Pot 3: the four unseeded EQ teams are drawn to the first available position of semi-finals 2, 4, 6 and 8, taking into account any applicable draw condition valid at the time of the draw (including countries who cannot play each other in the play-off semi-final or in a potential play- off final).

d. Pot 4: the four unseeded UNL teams are drawn to the first available position of semi-finals 1, 3, 5 and 7, taking into account any applicable draw condition valid at the time of the draw (including countries who cannot play each other in the play -off semi-final or in a potential play- off final).

The winners of the four play-off finals qualify for the FIFA World Cup 26 and thereby complete the

field of 16 European participants.

• DRAW CONSTRAINTS:

Based on decisions taken by the UEFA Executive Committee and the UEFA Emergency Panel, the

following countries cannot be drawn into the same play-off path:

• Armenia / Azerbaijan

• Belarus / Ukraine

• Gibraltar / Spain

• Kosovo / Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Kosovo / Serbia

If a clash occurs or could occur, the team drawn is placed in the next-available play-off path in

alphabetical order, as indicated by the computer. Additional draw constraints might be added closer to the draw.

• ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES:

As for previous single-leg play-off formats, the teams of the same path shall seek bilateral

agreements that clarify the on-site arrangements and potential compensation fee, based on the

net profit that can be generated by the hosts of the semi-finals and the final.

The host of the final is not known before the semi-final between the potential hosts has been played. As the two defeated semi-finalists are asked to play a second match in the international window of March 2026, the teams of the same path shall arrange quadrilaterally that a friendly match takes place at the venue that was initially reserved for the final.

Team Maverick