UEFA qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup back underway | OneFootball

The UEFA Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup resume this week with the matches for rounds 5 and 6. The road to the World Cup, which for the first time will feature 48 participants and be held in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, already delivered its first thrills in March and June, and now enters a decisive chapter in the race for qualification.

Europe will have 16 spots for the big event. The competition format includes 12 groups, each with four or five teams, with the winners of each group qualifying directly.

The runners-up will play in a playoff along with four teams from the UEFA Nations League. The playoffs will take place in March 2026 and will award the final four spots.

So far, Groups A through F have yet to see action, so the focus is on those that have already played. In Group G, Finland leads with 7 points from four matches, although the Netherlands (6 pts. in 2 games) and Poland (6 pts. in 3 games) are close behind.

In Group H, Bosnia and Herzegovina leads with a perfect record from three matches, followed by Austria with two wins in two games. Meanwhile, in Group I, Norway is the big surprise with four wins in four matches, while Israel and Italy are battling for second place.

In Group J, North Macedonia is surprising everyone by leading with 8 points from 4 matches, although Wales is close behind with 7 points. Belgium, which has just started its campaign, is third with 4 points from two matches.

In Group K, England dominates with a perfect score (9 out of 9) and looks like the top contender. Finally, in Group L, the Czech Republic leads with 9 points from 4 matches, but Croatia, with only two games played, already has 6 points and aims to overtake them.

Action will resume this Thursday, September 4, with standout matches such as Netherlands vs. Poland, Bulgaria vs. Spain, and Slovakia vs. Germany. On Friday, there will be heavyweight clashes like Italy vs. Estonia, Ukraine vs. France, and Greece vs. Belarus.

England will host Andorra on Saturday and Belgium will look to regain ground on Sunday against Kazakhstan. In addition, Monday will feature an exciting Croatia vs. Montenegro, and the round will close on Tuesday with an unmissable Serbia vs. England.

With the standings still very tight in most groups, these two matchdays could start to set trends for the direct qualification spots and the playoffs.

Matchday 5 Thursday, September 4

Saturday, September 6

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