ZURICH (AP) — FIFA will host draws on Nov. 20 in Zurich for playoff brackets to decide the last six entries at the 48-team 2026 World Cup, the world soccer body said Friday.
The European brackets will have 16 teams — likely including four-time champion Italy — playing for four places at the tournament next June and July in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Six teams from outside Europe will play for two entries in the intercontinental playoffs that Mexico is expected to host. Bolivia and New Caledonia have already qualified.
All the playoffs games are scheduled March 26-31.
The six playoffs slots will be placeholders coming out of the lowest-ranked pot 4 in the World Cup draw on Dec. 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC with U.S. President Donald Trump expected to attend.
FIFA said the playoffs brackets will be seeded using the next men’s world rankings due to be published Nov. 19.
The European playoffs will involve four separate brackets of four teams, playing single-game semifinals and finals. Teams enter by finishing runner-up in the 12 qualifying groups, plus four teams that won Nations League groups last year which shape to include Wales and Sweden.
The 12 winners of European qualifying groups that finish Nov. 18, already including England, advance directly to the finals tournament.
The intercontinental playoffs see the four lowest-ranked teams paired in two single-game semifinals to advance to finals against the two top-ranked teams.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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