European playoff draw: What to know, teams, live stream, how to watch, start time

The 2026 World Cup is getting closer and while the draw for the upcoming summer tournament will take place on Dec. 5 in Washington D.C., some of the teams are yet to clinch a spot for the most important soccer competition in the world, which next year will take place in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In total, 42 national teams have already clinched a spot for the World Cup, while four European teams will need to clinch it through the UEFA playoffs and the inter-confederation playoffs will determine the last two non-European spots for the World Cup. Here’s all you need to know ahead of Thursday’s draw: 

How to watch 

• Date: Thursday, Nov. 20 | Time: 7 a.m. ET
• Location: FIFA HQ, Zurich 
• TV: FS1 | Live stream: Fubo (try for free)

Teams qualified for the World Cup

Let’s now take a look at the 42 teams that already clinched a spot for the 2026 World Cup. Since the 2026 World Cup is co-hosted by three nations, they all receive an automatic qualifying spot in the tournament: 

World Cup hosts: United States, Mexico, Canada

AFC Qualifiers: Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Australia, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia

Concacaf Qualifiers: Haiti, Curacao, Panama

OFC Qualifier: New Zealand

CONMEBOL Qualifiers: Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Paraguay, Uruguay

CAF Qualifiers: Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Ghana, Cabo Verde, Algeria, South Africa, Senegal, Ivory Coast

UEFA qualifiers: England, France, Croatia, Portugal, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Scotland, Spain, Austria, Belgium 

Which teams are in European the play-offs?

16 teams participate in the European play-offs: 12 runners-up from the European qualifiers group stage plus four teams that have qualified via the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League*.

Group runners-up: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Denmark, Italy, Kosovo, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Slovakia, Turkiye, Ukraine, Wales

Nations League route: Romania, Sweden, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia

*The four additional teams were selected on the basis of the interim overall 2024-25 Nations League rankings, starting with the best-ranked group winners that have neither qualified directly for the final competition as European qualifiers group winners, nor entered the playoffs already as group runners-up.

How does the draw work?

The draw will set the eight playoff semifinals and the four final matchups. The 12 group runners-up will be allocated to the top three pots according to their FIFA ranking, while the four UEFA Nations League group winners will be placed in Pot 4. One team from each pot will then be drawn into four distinct playoff paths: Path A, Path B, Path C, and Path D. In every path, the Pot 1 team will face the Pot 4 team in a single-legged semifinal, while the Pot 2 and Pot 3 teams will meet in the other semifinal. The winners of each semifinal will advance to the final, also played as a single match, with the four path winners qualifying for the tournament.

Based on the FIFA rankings, the 16 teams are divided into four pots as follows:

The four play-off paths will be formed in this way:

• Pot 1: the four top-seeded EQ teams are allocated to semifinals 1, 3, 5 and 7 in the order drawn.
• Pot 2: the four seeded EQ teams are drawn to the first available position of semifinals 2, 4, 6 and 8.
• Pot 3: the four unseeded EQ teams are drawn to the first available position of semifinals 2, 4, 6 and 8.
• Pot 4: the four unseeded UNL teams are drawn to the first available position of semifinals 1, 3, 5 and 7.

When are the play-offs taking place? 

The playoffs will be played in a single-match format. Each path consists of two semifinals, with one seeded team facing one unseeded team. The seeded sides will host their respective semifinals, while the venue for each path’s final will be determined in Thursday’s draw. The semifinals are scheduled for Thursday, March 26, with the finals to follow on March 31.

World Cup pots

The FIFA 2026 World Cup Final Draw will take place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. on December 5 at 12 p.m. ET.  Here’s are projected World Cup draw pots after November’s international break, with FIFA set to officially announce the pots in the coming days.