2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA second round

The UEFA second round of the qualification tournament for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, also known as the UEFA play-offs or European play-offs, is being contested by sixteen teams from the UEFA segment of qualifying. The play-offs will determine the final four European teams that will join the twelve group winners at the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States. The twelve runners-up from the UEFA first round groups participated in the play-offs, along with four teams based on the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League interim overall ranking. The teams were divided into four paths, each containing four teams, with each play-off path featuring two single-leg semi-finals and one single-leg final. The twelve matches are taking place on 26 and 31 March 2026.

Format

The play-off format was confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting in Nyon, Switzerland, on 28 June 2023.^[1] The play-offs participants depended, in part, on results from the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League, although to a lesser degree than play-offs of the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament.^[2]^[3]

The twelve runners-up from the first round (group stage) were joined by four Nations League group winners that finished outside the top two of their qualifying group, based on the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League interim overall ranking. The sixteen teams were split into four play-off paths, each containing four teams. Each play-off path will feature two single-leg semi-finals on 26 March, and one single-leg final on 31 March 2026. In the semi-finals, the fixtures of each path were drawn after the first round concluded using four seeding pots, with the Pot 1 team hosting the Pot 4 team and the Pot 2 team hosting the Pot 3 team. The host of each path final was decided by a draw between the two semi-final pairings. The winner of the four path finals will qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States.^[4]

The play-offs are single-leg knockout matches. If scores are level at the end of normal time, 30 minutes of extra time is played, where each team is allowed to make a sixth substitution. If the scores remain tied, a penalty shoot-out is used to determine the winner.^[5]

Qualified teams

Sixteen teams advanced to the play-offs. The participants were not decided solely on the results of the first round, with four of the spots allocated to group winners of the 2024–25 edition of the UEFA Nations League.

Second-placed teams (all twelve advance)

The twelve runners-up from the first round (group stage) advanced to the play-offs.

Group	Runners-up
A	Slovakia
B	Kosovo
C	Denmark
D	Ukraine
E	Turkey
F	Republic of Ireland
G	Poland
H	Bosnia and Herzegovina
I	Italy
J	Wales
K	Albania
L	Czech Republic

Nations League teams (four advance)

Based on the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League interim overall ranking,^[6] the four best-ranked Nations League group winners that finished outside the top two of their qualifying group advanced to the play-offs. If fewer than four Nations League group winners had been selected, the remaining spot(s) would have been allocated to the best-ranked remaining team(s) in the Nations League interim overall ranking that finished outside the top two of their qualifying group.^[4]

At the start of qualifying, the teams in the table below were potentially able to receive a play-off spot in the order given:^{[note 1]}

UNL

Rank

Team

Qualifying
group

Nations League group winners

A

1

Spain ^&

E

2

Germany ^&

A

3

Portugal ^&

F

4

France ^&

D

B

17

England ^&

K

18

Norway ^&

I

19

Wales ^†

J

20

Czech Republic ^†

L

C

33

Romania ^‡

H

34

Sweden ^‡

B

35

North Macedonia ^‡

J

36

Northern Ireland ^‡

A

D

49

Moldova

I

50

San Marino

H

Nations League remaining teams
A	5	Italy ^†	I
	6	Netherlands ^&	G
	7	Denmark ^†	C
	8	Croatia ^&	L
	9	Scotland ^&	C
	10	Serbia	K
	11	Hungary	F
	12	Belgium ^&	J
	13	Poland ^†	G
	14	Israel	I
	15	Switzerland ^&	B
	16	Bosnia and Herzegovina ^†	H

Key

& Team qualified directly for World Cup as qualifying group winner
† Team advanced to the play-offs as qualifying group runner-up
‡ Team (in bold) advanced to the play-offs as one of the best four Nations League group winners outside top two of their qualifying group

Draw

The draw to determine the four play-off paths was held on 20 November 2025, 13:00 CET, at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.^[7]^[8]^[9] The sixteen teams advancing from the first round were divided into four pots of four teams each. The twelve group runners-up were allocated to Pots 1 to 3 (seeded based on the FIFA Men's World Ranking of November 2025), while the four teams advancing via the Nations League were automatically placed into Pot 4.^[4]

The draw was presented by Melanie Winiger and conducted by Manolo Zubiria, the 2026 tournament's U.S. chief officer. Former players Marco Materazzi and Martin Dahlin acted as assistants in the draw.^[10]

Procedure

The play-off paths are structured as follows:^[4]^[11]

Play-off Path A is formed by semi-finals 1 and 2, with the winners of both semi-finals advancing to final A.
Play-off Path B is formed by semi-finals 3 and 4, with the winners of both semi-finals advancing to final B.
Play-off Path C is formed by semi-finals 5 and 6, with the winners of both semi-finals advancing to final C.
Play-off Path D is formed by semi-finals 7 and 8, with the winners of both semi-finals advancing to final D.

The draw for the semi-final started with Pot 1 and completed with Pot 4. Teams were drawn and assigned to the first available play-off semi-final in numerical order, as follows:

The Pot 1 teams (seeded) were allocated to semi-finals 1, 3, 5 and 7 as the host team.
The Pot 2 teams (seeded) were allocated to semi-finals 2, 4, 6 and 8 as the host team.
The Pot 3 teams (unseeded) were allocated to semi-finals 2, 4, 6 and 8 as the away team.
The Pot 4 teams (unseeded) were allocated to semi-finals 1, 3, 5 and 7 as the away team.

The draw for the final hosts took place immediately afterwards, with finals A, B, C and D each having one of their semi-finalists selected as the host team.

No restrictions applied in the draw, as none of the clashes that were prohibited by UEFA for political reasons could occur.^{[note 2]}

Seeding

The seeding pots for the semi-final draw were as follows.^[11] The FIFA Men's World Rankings of 19 November 2025 are shown below in brackets,^[12] with the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League interim overall ranking appended for Pot 4 teams.

Semi-final seeding pots
Seeded		Unseeded
Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4 (UNL)
Italy (12) Denmark (21) Turkey (25) Ukraine (28)	Poland (31) Wales (32) Czech Republic (44) Slovakia (45)	Republic of Ireland (59) Albania (63) Bosnia and Herzegovina (71) Kosovo (80)	Sweden (43; NL–34) Romania (47; NL–33) North Macedonia (65; NL–35) Northern Ireland (69; NL–36)

Schedule

The semi-finals took place on 26 March and the final matches will take place on 31 March 2026.^[13] The kick-off times were confirmed on 20 November 2025 following the draw.^[14]^[15] The semi-final and potential final hosts were required to confirm their venues by 19 December 2025.^[16] As part of UEFA's scheduling, the losing semi-finalists of each path will play a friendly match against each other on the day of the play-off finals.^[11]

Times are CET/CEST,^{[note 3]} as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Path A

Bracket

Semi-finals		Final

26 March 2026 – Cardiff

Wales	1 (2)
		31 March 2026 – Zenica
Bosnia and Herzegovina (p)	1 (4)
		Bosnia and Herzegovina
26 March 2026 – Bergamo
		Italy
Italy	2

Northern Ireland	0

Summary

Home team	Score	Away team
Semi-finals
Italy	2–0	Northern Ireland
Wales	1–1 (2–4 p)	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Final
Bosnia and Herzegovina	31 Mar	Italy

Semi-finals

26 March 2026

20:45

Italy	2–0	Northern Ireland
Tonali 56' Kean 80'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)

Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia, Bergamo

Attendance: 23,439^[17]

Referee: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)

26 March 2026

20:45 (19:45 UTC+0)

Wales	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Bosnia and Herzegovina
James 51'	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)	Džeko 86'
Penalties
Wilson Harris Johnson Williams	2–4	Demirović Tabaković Bašić Hadžiahmetović Alajbegović

Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff

Attendance: 32,487^[18]

Referee: István Kovács (Romania)

Final

31 March 2026

20:45

Bosnia and Herzegovina	Final A	Italy
	Report (FIFA) Report (UEFA)

Stadion Bilino Polje, Zenica