Five Porto men battle for a place at the 2026 World Cup | OneFootball

Five FC Porto players will try this Tuesday to secure a place at the 2026 World Cup. From 7:45pm, the national teams of Bednarek, Kiwior and Pietuszewski (Poland), Froholdt (Denmark) and Deniz Gul (Turkey) will have their last chance to book a spot in the tournament, which will be hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. For FC Porto, having as many players as possible at the World Cup represents considerable added value, not only because of the financial compensation awarded by FIFA for each player released to national-team duty, but also because of the media impact this may have on increasing the value of its assets.

Interestingly, the national teams of the five Porto players will all be playing away from home in the decisive play-off: Poland travel to Sweden, Turkey go to Kosovo and Denmark face the Czech Republic in Prague. Several national teams with players linked to FC Porto, such as Portugal, Brazil, Argentina or Canada (Eustáquio is on loan at Los Angeles FC), not forgetting Ivory Coast, of Fofana (in this case on loan from Rennes), have already secured their ticket to the major tournament.

This group of five now still has to achieve the ultimate goal. Starting with the national team with the most Dragons, Poland face, in theory, the toughest challenge: they have not beaten Sweden away from home for 96 years. Even so, head coach Jan Urban remains unbeaten in charge of the team, with six matches without defeat. Poland finished second in their qualifying group and, in the play-off semi-finals, knocked out Albania, while Sweden had a far below-par campaign, without a single win and finishing behind Kosovo. Sweden’s place in the play-off came from their strong performance in the Nations League, where they secured promotion from League C to League B.

Turkey, led by Deniz Gul, beat Romania 1-0 at home and now travel to Kosovo, who caused a surprise by beating Slovakia away 4-3. It is a dangerous opponent, although the head-to-head record favours the Turks: three matches, three wins. Throughout their history, the Turkish national team have appeared in only two World Cup final tournaments.

Lastly, Denmark, of Victor Froholdt, reached this stage after an emphatic 4-0 win over North Macedonia. The Czech Republic are strong on home soil, but Denmark are in good form and, although a balanced contest is expected, they go into it with a slight edge.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.