🇪🇺 World Cup 2026 qualifiers: Germany lose their opener for the first time | OneFootball

Thursday (4) also featured a round of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers in Europe.

On the Old Continent, some teams have already played up to five matches, while others only made their debut today.

This is the case, for example, of Germany, Spain, and Northern Ireland.

Check out a summary of the matches below

Bulgaria 0 x 3 Spain

With another great performance from Lamine Yamal, Spain had no trouble securing victory in the first half of their debut in the Qualifiers.

Oyarzabal opened the scoring just five minutes in, finishing off an assist from Zubimendi.

Cucurella (30') extended the lead, and Lamine Yamal provided the assist for Mikel Merino (38') to seal the win for La Furia.

Slovakia 2 x 0 Germany

Even with big names on the world stage, such as Wirtz, Kimmich, and Rüdiger, the four-time world champions did not get off to a good start on their road to the 2026 World Cup.

At the end of the first half, Hancko (42') opened the scoring for Slovakia. And, at the start of the second half, Strelec (55') secured the victory for the hosts.

This is the first time Germany has lost in a World Cup Qualifiers debut. Previously, there were 41 wins and 10 draws.

Liechtenstein 0 x 6 Belgium

Unlike Spain and Germany, Belgium had already played two matches in the Qualifiers (one draw and one win).

The famous "golden generation" of Belgium, which still includes Courtois and De Bruyne, now also features the "reinforcements" of Tielemans, Doku, Fofana, and Openda.

The first half saw a lone goal from De Cuyper (29') to open the scoring.

However, in the second half, the "floodgates" opened with goals from Tielemans (46' and 70'), Theate (60'), De Bruyne (62'), and Fofana (91').

Luxembourg 1 x 3 Northern Ireland

In the same group as Germany, Northern Ireland secured victory in their debut with goals from Reid (7'), Charles (46'), and Devenny (70'). Dardari (30') pulled one back for Luxembourg.

Netherlands 1 x 1 Poland

Depay provided the assist for Dumfries (28') to open the scoring for the Netherlands, still in the first half.

However, at the end of the second half, Cash leveled the score.

🚦 How things stand

With today's results, Northern Ireland and Slovakia lead Group A with three points, while Luxembourg and Germany start the Qualifiers with no points.

In Group E, Spain and Turkey, who beat Georgia 3-2 earlier, finish the first round at the top with three points each.

After three games, the Netherlands share the lead in Group G with Poland and Finland. All have seven points, with the latter two having played four matches, compared to three for the Dutch. Lithuania (3 points) and Malta (two points) round out the group.

Finally, in Group J, Belgium sit in third place with seven points from three games, behind Wales (10 points from five games), North Macedonia (eight points from four games), and ahead of Kazakhstan (three points from four games) and Liechtenstein (zero after four games).

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

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