Yoane Wissa and Sandro Tonali routes to 2026 World Cup finals now laid out | OneFootball

The dream is still alive for Sandro Tonali and Yoane Wissa, as well as Anthony Elanga and Emil Krafth, to go to the 2026 World Cup finals.

We are now at the stage whereby 42 of the 48 teams are now known (see below).

So just the six more to be sorted.

Italy and DR Congo, as well as Sweden, missed out on automatic qualification but could still get to the 2026 World Cup finals.

They are amongst a total of 22 countries that will be competing in play-offs to decide these last half dozen successful qualifiers.

YOANE WISSA

After failing to top their group, DR Congo have gone through the African play-offs, winning the semi-final and final, in the Newcastle United striker’s absence.

That has given Yoane Wissa and DR Congo a place at the inter-confederation play-offs in March 2026.

These are for non-European countries and there are two places in the 2026 World Cup finals up for grabs, with six countries competing for them.

The draw takes place on Thursday (20 November 2025) and starts at 12 noon.

Six nations will take part, in two paths with a semi-final and a final.

The two countries with the highest world ranking go straight into the two finals, these are Iraq and DR Congo. So Yoane Wissa and his international teammates will only have to win one match in March to get to the 2026 World Cup finals.

For Thursday’s draw, the highest-ranked country (DR Congo) will automatically be in final one and the second-highest (Iraq) in final two. There will then be an open draw of the four remaining teams into each semi-final position.

These other four countries are from Concacaf: Jamaica, Suriname, from Conmebol: Bolivia and from OFC: New Caledonia. The only rule in the draw for is that there must be one Concacaf team in each path.

SANDRO TONALI

The draw for the European countries World Cup play-offs also takes place on Thursday  at 12 noon.

There are four places to be won, through four play-off paths each containing four teams with one-legged semi-finals and finals.

The draw on Thursday will create the individual paths.

The 16 countries are divided into four pots:

The 12 teams who finished runners-up in their group are seeded into three pots by their world ranking.

The fourth pot contains the four teams who were awarded a play-off through performance in the Uefa Nations League.

Pot 1: Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Ukraine

Pot 2: Poland, Wales, Czech Republic, Slovakia

Pot 3: Republic of Ireland, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo

Pot 4: Romania, Sweden, North Macedonia, Northern Ireland

In the semi-finals, the seeded teams will be at home:

Pot 1 v Pot 4

Pot 2 v Pot 3

Each of the four paths will have one team from each pot, feeding into a final.

The home advantage in the finals will be determined by the draw on Thursday.

The draw starts with Pot 1 and ends with Pot 4.

The semi-finals will take place on Thursday, 26 March at 17:00 GMT or 19:45 GMT, and the finals on Tuesday, 31 March with kick-off times of 17:00 BST or 19:45 BST.

So Sandro Tonali and Italy will be at home in their one-legged semi-final. Whilst Anthony Elanga, Emil Krafth and Sweden, will be away.

The 42 teams now already through to the 2026 World Cup finals:

Hosts:

Canada, Mexico, United States

Africa:

Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia

Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Uzbekistan

Europe:

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland

Oceania: