The World Cup Qualifying 2026

[Orraloon]

5 minutes ago, romanticscot said:

I have chewing over the implications of the Nations League and might have the wrong understanding. If there are 10 UEFA qualification groups for the World Cup again, and the Nations League determines seeding for the draw, we are at worst guaranteed to be seeded 2nd (1-10 are seeded first, and then 11-20 are seeded 2nd).  This would mean all those who finish 1st and 2nd and the top 2 3rd places teams are seeded in pot 1.  

If World Cup qualification groups were to be drawn today, we would have one of the following in our group as the top seeds.  

Spain, Croatia, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Belgium, Hungary, Switzerland and Germany. 

We would avoid France, Poland, Israel, Bosnia & H, Austria, Serbia, England, Wales and Czech Republic as they would be in pot 2 with us.

So much to change, but the point is we must treat the Nations League seriously as finishing a strong 3rd could mean we are seeded in Pot 1, and 2nd guarantee's that we are. 

There will be 12 World Cup groups. 

[romanticscot]

1 hour ago, Orraloon said:

There will be 12 World Cup groups. 

Thats even better, if we finish 3rd or above in our Nations League we are seeded 1st for the WC qualifiers. 

[Caledonian Craig]

1 hour ago, romanticscot said:

Thats even better, if we finish 3rd or above in our Nations League we are seeded 1st for the WC qualifiers. 

Precisely. Means we avoid the likes of France, Spain, Belgium, Portugal and other tough opponents. But knowing our luck we will draw,England from secondcseeds.

[romanticscot]

3 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Precisely. Means we avoid the likes of France, Spain, Belgium, Portugal and other tough opponents. But knowing our luck we will draw,England from secondcseeds.

We could avoid England get a fantastic group like this

 

Scotland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Faroe Islands and Malta

Finishing 3rd in the Nations League will not be easy, ultimately avoid France from Pot 3 unless we landed "weaker" pot 1 and 2 teams like getting Croatia(!!) from pot 1 and getting Hungary or Denmark in pot 2...and then taking care of business - this is our best chance.  We could get a similar group to our Euros group and get Hungary and Switzerland again.  

[Marky]

16 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Precisely. Means we avoid the likes of France, Spain, Belgium, Portugal and other tough opponents. But knowing our luck we will draw,England from secondcseeds.

Aren't England likely to be pot 1 as they will likely win their League B group and replace one of the relegated teams from League A?

[Caledonian Craig]

49 minutes ago, Marky said:

Aren't England likely to be pot 1 as they will likely win their League B group and replace one of the relegated teams from League A?

Not according to that English newspaper. Even if England won all of their games in the upcoming Nations League and were promoted they would be outside the top twelve as top twelve spots go to teams that finish in the top three in all four League A groups.

[todd]

13 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Not according to that English newspaper. Even if England won all of their games in the upcoming Nations League and were promoted they would be outside the top twelve as top twelve spots go to teams that finish in the top three in all four League A groups.

So impossible for England to be a pot one team, that'll be a sore one for them 😄

[Orraloon]

25 minutes ago, todd said:

So impossible for England to be a pot one team, that'll be a sore one for them 😄

If it's confirmed that they will use Nations League rankings. I haven't seen that written down anywhere yet.

[Caledonian Craig]

6 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

If it's confirmed that they will use Nations League rankings. I haven't seen that written down anywhere yet.

I see no reason why an English paper would take the wrong end of the stick when it is looking at it from a poor angle for England.

[Orraloon]

37 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

I see no reason why an English paper would take the wrong end of the stick when it is looking at it from a poor angle for England.

Where did they get that information from, though? I can't find it on the FIFA or UEFA website. It could be correct, but you would think FIFA or UEFA would announce it, if they had made that decision.

[Caledonian Craig]

1 hour ago, Orraloon said:

Where did they get that information from, though? I can't find it on the FIFA or UEFA website. It could be correct, but you would think FIFA or UEFA would announce it, if they had made that decision.

Well given that we know that there will be 12 qualifying groups that tallies with the top three teams from the four League A groups making up the twelve top seeds. 

 

[Orraloon]

8 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Well given that we know that there will be 12 qualifying groups that tallies with the top three teams from the four League A groups making up the twelve top seeds. 

 

Can you post a link to where UEFA or FIFA have said that they will use Nations League rankings? I hope they do, but I can't find it anywhere.

[Caledonian Craig]

14 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

Can you post a link to where UEFA or FIFA have said that they will use Nations League rankings? I hope they do, but I can't find it anywhere.

Well we shall see soon enough. I cannot see why a newspaper would come up with a totally wrong theory in any case. They must have got the info from somewhere legit but I, like you, cannot find it.

[saintydave]

19 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Well we shall see soon enough. I cannot see why a newspaper would come up with a totally wrong theory in any case. They must have got the info from somewhere legit but I, like you, cannot find it.

Still think it's likely they have put 2 and 2 together as it has been confirmed nations league spots will be used for the playoffs 

[ceudmilefailte]

Maybe they’ll seed the playoffs based on nations league positions to help avoid an Italy Portugal type of situation 

[Orraloon]

I'm still hoping that the article is correct, and that they will use Nation League rankings. 

But the WC 2022 qualifiers used FIFA rankings. It is a FIFA tournament after all. Moving to use Nations League rankings instead would be a major change, which would need to voted through by UEFA, and then ratified by FIFA. If that had already happened then I think we would have heard about it? I could be wrong though.

I haven't actually read the article as I refuse to click on anything from that rag. 

[romanticscot]

I've spent quite a bit  looking for how the seeds with be handled for the qualification pots - and I cannot find any confirmation that the Nations League will be used for seeding.  The only thing I can find is of course mention of the Nation League in relation to the Play Offs.  I have read a bunch of worry in depth UEFA and FIFA rule and policy document.  

Our first qualifiers are March 0f 2025, but I cannot find any confirmation of the qualification draw. If Qatar was anything to go by the draw wont happen until November.  The Nations league fixtures apart from the relegation and promotion matches will all be concluded the 19th of Nov so I would take a guess the draw wont happen until 27th of November.  

My conclusion is there is no confirmation nations League will definitely have a bearing on the World Cup seeding, my gut says FIFA rankings will decide the pots as usual.  With 12 groups we need to be ranked 24 or higher, currently we are 19 to be seeded in pot 2.  

[Caledonian Craig]

7 hours ago, romanticscot said:

I've spent quite a bit  looking for how the seeds with be handled for the qualification pots - and I cannot find any confirmation that the Nations League will be used for seeding.  The only thing I can find is of course mention of the Nation League in relation to the Play Offs.  I have read a bunch of worry in depth UEFA and FIFA rule and policy document.  

Our first qualifiers are March 0f 2025, but I cannot find any confirmation of the qualification draw. If Qatar was anything to go by the draw wont happen until November.  The Nations league fixtures apart from the relegation and promotion matches will all be concluded the 19th of Nov so I would take a guess the draw wont happen until 27th of November.  

My conclusion is there is no confirmation nations League will definitely have a bearing on the World Cup seeding, my gut says FIFA rankings will decide the pots as usual.  With 12 groups we need to be ranked 24 or higher, currently we are 19 to be seeded in pot 2.  

The draw for qualifying is to be held in December of this yeat.

[Caledonian Craig]

As for the newspaper report I now think they maybe half read the wikipedia World Cup Qualifying (uefa) page where it refers to Nations League ranking deciding seeding but that is the play-offs they are talking about. See here:-

 16 teams (twelve group runners-up and four best Nations League group winners, based on the Nations League overall ranking, that finished outside the top two of their qualifying group) will be drawn into four play-off paths, playing two rounds of single-match playoffs (semi-finals with the seeded teams to host, followed by finals, with the home teams to be drawn). The four path winners will qualify for the World Cup.

[Northern Light]

17 hours ago, romanticscot said:

I've spent quite a bit  looking for how the seeds with be handled for the qualification pots - and I cannot find any confirmation that the Nations League will be used for seeding.  The only thing I can find is of course mention of the Nation League in relation to the Play Offs.  I have read a bunch of worry in depth UEFA and FIFA rule and policy document.  

Our first qualifiers are March 0f 2025, but I cannot find any confirmation of the qualification draw. If Qatar was anything to go by the draw wont happen until November.  The Nations league fixtures apart from the relegation and promotion matches will all be concluded the 19th of Nov so I would take a guess the draw wont happen until 27th of November.  

My conclusion is there is no confirmation nations League will definitely have a bearing on the World Cup seeding, my gut says FIFA rankings will decide the pots as usual.  With 12 groups we need to be ranked 24 or higher, currently we are 19 to be seeded in pot 2.  

The only thing I would add is that not all teams start their qualifying matches in March 2025. 

If we are drawn in a 4-team group then our six fixtures will be played September-November 2025 (we would then play friendlies or NL games in March/June).

If we are in a 5-team group then a few possibilities:-

If we finish bottom of our Nations League Group then our WC qualifying matches start March 2025.

If we finish third in the NL Group then we have a promotion/relegation match in March and the WC qualifiers start in June 2025.

If we finish first or second in the NL Group then we have a NL quarter final in March 2025 and if we win that we have the NL finals in June 2025 (I know, I know!!) and qualifiers would start in September 2025. If we lose the quarters then the WC qualifying starts in June 2025.

As always with anything involving UEFA it's all a bit of a contrived mess.

[Ally Bongo]

MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will host the 2026 World Cup final on 19 July, while Azteca Stadium in Mexico City will stage the opening group game on 11 June.

Mexico is one of three countries co-hosting the expanded 48-team tournament along with USA and Canada which will last a record 39 days.

The tournament will last 10 more days than the 2022 edition in Qatar.

In total, 16 cities have been chosen including Monterrey and Guadalajara in Mexico, and Vancouver in Canada.

Boston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York, Houston, Seattle and San Francisco make up the US contingent.

Only one city, Guadalajara, will not host a knockout game.

The quarter-finals will be held in Los Angeles, Kansas City, Miami, Boston, with the semi-finals in Dallas and Atlanta, while Dallas will host a record nine matches.

The new format will feature 12 four-team groups, a last-32 knockout round for the first time and a record 104 matches will be played.

The tournament hosts will play the group stage in their own countries, with the US staying on the West Coast with two games in LA and one in Seattle.

Canada will play one group stage game in Toronto followed by two in Vancouver while Mexico will play twice at the Azteca and once in Guadalajara.

Teams are likely to face a large amount of travel between games.

The shortest distance between a quarter-final and a semi-final venue is just over 500 miles from Kansas City to Dallas while the longest - between Los Angeles and Atlanta - is just under 2,200 miles.

[romanticscot]

1 hour ago, Ally Bongo said:

MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will host the 2026 World Cup final on 19 July, while Azteca Stadium in Mexico City will stage the opening group game on 11 June.

Mexico is one of three countries co-hosting the expanded 48-team tournament along with USA and Canada which will last a record 39 days.

The tournament will last 10 more days than the 2022 edition in Qatar.

In total, 16 cities have been chosen including Monterrey and Guadalajara in Mexico, and Vancouver in Canada.

Boston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York, Houston, Seattle and San Francisco make up the US contingent.

Only one city, Guadalajara, will not host a knockout game.

The quarter-finals will be held in Los Angeles, Kansas City, Miami, Boston, with the semi-finals in Dallas and Atlanta, while Dallas will host a record nine matches.

The new format will feature 12 four-team groups, a last-32 knockout round for the first time and a record 104 matches will be played.

The tournament hosts will play the group stage in their own countries, with the US staying on the West Coast with two games in LA and one in Seattle.

Canada will play one group stage game in Toronto followed by two in Vancouver while Mexico will play twice at the Azteca and once in Guadalajara.

Teams are likely to face a large amount of travel between games.

The shortest distance between a quarter-final and a semi-final venue is just over 500 miles from Kansas City to Dallas while the longest - between Los Angeles and Atlanta - is just under 2,200 miles.

Thanks I was looking for some info concerning the first and second round make up.  I am glad to see the first round is groups of 4, hearing about groups of three didn't feel too exciting somehow. It makes comparisons to earlier years possible for a start.  I so hope we will make it, I am within driving distance of three stadiums(two within 4 hours), 4 if I include Atlanta, I may have to host a few of you if your coming over.