🏆 Six spots up for grabs: how the two World Cup play-offs work | OneFootball

Although the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup have come to an end on all continents, we still have nights of agony and glory left in the playoff matches.

22 national teams will compete in two playoffs starting in March to determine the last six spots in the 2026 World Cup. Check below to see how it will all work.

🇪🇺 The European Playoff

Europe will have 16 teams vying for four spots. Who is in the playoff?

FIFA will hold a draw this Thursday the 20th, at 13:00, distributing the teams into four pots, with four teams each.

From there, four direct elimination paths will be formed, with single-leg semifinals and finals:

The four teams that win their paths will secure a spot in the Cup.

🎟️ The European Playoff Pots

🌎 The Intercontinental Playoff

The other playoff brings together six teams from different confederations competing for two spots. Who is participating?

The qualified teams are: Bolivia (CONMEBOL), New Caledonia (Oceania), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Africa), Iraq (Asia), Suriname (CONCACAF), Jamaica (CONCACAF)

Iraq and DR Congo start directly in the finals due to their higher FIFA ranking.

FIFA will draw two matchups this Thursday. Suriname and Jamaica cannot face each other in the semifinals as they belong to the same confederation.

The semifinals and finals, all single-leg matches, will be played in Mexico, one of the World Cup hosts.

🛣️ Possible Paths in the International Playoff

📸 JOHAN ORDONEZ - AFP or licensors

Semifinals: Jamaica vs Bolivia or New Caledonia and Suriname vs Bolivia or New Caledonia

Finals: Iraq vs winner of the first semifinal or DR Congo vs winner of the second semifinal

The two teams that win the final will secure their spot in the World Cup.

👍🏻 Who is already qualified?

The hosts: Canada, United States, and Mexico.

From Africa (9): South Africa, Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, and Tunisia.

From South America (6): Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

From Central and North America (3): Curaçao, Haiti, and Panama.

From Asia (8): Saudi Arabia, Australia, South Korea, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Qatar, and Uzbekistan.

From Europe (12): Germany, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Scotland, Spain, France, Netherlands, England, Norway, Portugal, and Switzerland.

From Oceania (1): New Zealand.

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

📸 Timothy Rogers - 2023 Getty Images