The seedings and procedures for the UEFA Preliminary Draw for FIFA World Cup 26 have been confirmed. Our national team will participate in the draw from pot 2.

UEFA Nations League quarter-finalists Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain will be joined in Pot 1 by best-ranked UEFA nations England, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria, who are in the top pot for the first time since the qualifiers for 1986 FIFA World Cup.

The remaining teams are allocated to pots 2 to 5 according to the FIFA Men's World Ranking, with Slovakia's win over Estonia and Czechia's win over Georgia ensuring them both a spot in pot 2.

As per the draw procedures, the draw will begin with Pot 1 and continue with Pot 2 through to Pot 5. Each pot will be completely emptied before moving on to the next pot. In general, and for each pot, the teams drawn will be placed in ascending order from Group A to Group L.

UEFA Preliminary Draw for FIFA World Cup 26 seedings (ordered by FIFA Men's World Ranking)

Pot 1: France, Spain, England, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland, Denmark and Austria



Pot 2: Ukraine, Sweden, TÜRKİYE, Wales, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Romania, Greece, Slovakia, Czechia and Norway



Pot 3: Scotland, Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Israel



Pot 4: Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Belarus, Kosovo, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia and Lithuania



Pot 5: Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein and San Marino



The expansion of FIFA's flagship event ahead of the 2026 instalment has seen the number of places for UEFA national teams increase from 13 to 16. It will be the most inclusive edition of the tournament so far, featuring a total of 48 teams for the first time.

The UEFA qualifying group stage will begin in March 2025 and conclude in November 2025. It will follow a familiar format, with 12 groups of four or five teams, and the group winners securing a place at FIFA World Cup. The four remaining places will then be decided in March 2026 in a 16-team UEFA play-off involving the 12 group-stage runners-up and the four best-ranked UEFA Nations League 2024-25 group winners that have neither qualified directly for the FIFA World Cup as group winners nor entered the play-offs already as group runners-up.