2026 fifa men’s world cup Will begin as co-host on June 11 Mexico game South Africa in Mexico City, but there are still six qualification spots in the European and intercontinental playoffs up for grabs.
The final qualified teams will be confirmed on Tuesday, with the winners of four European nations and two intercontinental playoff finals having secured their places this summer in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Kosovo will host turkiye Attempting to reach their first World Cup and four-time world champions Italy but must win Bosnia and Herzegovina To avoid missing the final for the third consecutive tournament.
Iraq (1986), Congo DR (as Zaire in 1974), bolivia (1994) and Türkiye (2002) are all looking to end long absences from the World Cup, but who will emerge victorious in the six qualification finals?
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Europe
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The winner enters World Cup Group B (Canada, Queue, Switzerland)
Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Italy (Zenika, Bosnia): edin dzekoScored a goal in the 86th minute against wales It was the lifeline Bosnia needed in Cardiff to stay in the semi-finals and take the game to penalties, which ended with a 4–2 shootout victory for Sergej Barbarez’s team. At the age of 40, ex Manchester City, AS Roma And inter Milan If striker Dzeko can inspire Bosnia again in the final he will become one of the oldest outfield players to appear at the World Cup, but Italy will go into the game as strong favourites.
Gennaro Gattuso’s team overcomes nervous start to win northern ireland 2-0 That victory over Bergamo in Thursday’s semi-final has boosted morale in Italy after playoff defeats in 2018 and 2022. Bosnia have home advantage in Zenica at the hostile stadium Bilino Polje, but Italy have the pedigree. Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sandro Tonali And manual locateSo they will have no excuse for another playoff failure.
Winner: Italy
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Lawrence: Italy will face a tough test against Bosnia and Herzegovina
Julian Lawrence breaks down Bosnia and Herzegovina’s dramatic penalty win over Wales ahead of their World Cup clash with Italy.
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The winner enters World Cup Group F (Netherlands, Japan, tunisia)
sweden versus poland (Stockholm, Sweden): Victor Gyokres Sweden almost confirmed its place in the final with a hat trick on Thursday 3-1 against victory in the semi-finals ukraine In Valencia. Sweden, now coached by former chelsea And west ham united Boss Graham Potter managed a seriously poor performance during the qualifiers with no wins in their group campaign, but they now have a home match against Poland to seal a World Cup place.
Poles had to fight back after falling behind by one goal albania in warsaw before winning 2-1 with goals from Robert Lewandowski And Piotr Zielinski And they run to the game of Sweden Netherlands Close to their qualifying group. Recent form suggests Poland will be favourites, but Sweden are on home ground and are confident of a big win against Ukraine. It would be close, but Sweden would shade it – maybe even on penalties.
Winner: sweden
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The winner enters World Cup Group D (United States of America, paraguay, Australia)
Kosova vs Turkiye (Pristina, Kosova): Although the semi-final against Turkey romania Vincenzo Montella’s team’s victory was as expected 1-0 Through ferdi kadiogluGoal, Kosova overturns the odds 4-3 win away slovakia. Kosovo went into the playoffs as the lowest-ranked European nation still alive in the competition, placing 78th in the middle. israel And oman in the FIFA world rankings, but they dominated in Bratislava to secure a deserved victory.
Franco Foda’s team is young, adventurous and full of pace and energy, and they have the potential to surprise a Turkish team loaded with top talent. Arda Guler, Hakan Shalhanoglu And Kenan Yildiz. Turkey have won the last two meetings between the teams and will be favourites, but the Stadion Fadil Vokari will be on fire in Pristina on Tuesday and an energetic atmosphere could tip the balance in Kosovo’s favour.
Winner: Kosovo
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The winner enters World Cup Group A (Mexico, south korea, South Africa)
Czechia versus denmark (Prague, Czechia): Czechia looked dead and buried republic of ireland Finding themselves 2–0 down after 23 minutes in Prague, Miroslav Koubek’s team fought back to take the game to penalties before winning 4–3 from spot kicks.
But the Czechs will face a Danish team who have shown their quality 4-0 win against north macedonia In Copenhagen, so the Danes will be strong favorites in the final. The questions about Denmark have nothing to do with their quality – coach Brian Reimer’s Christian Eriksen, rasmus hojlund And Christian Norgaard on their roster – but can they handle the pressure of being favourites. draw against belarus and defeat against scotland Having seen them dash their hopes of automatic qualification, will they feel the heat against the Czechs? This is a threat for Denmark, but perhaps they have proved their capability by beating North Macedonia.
Winner: denmark
intercontinental playoff
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The winner enters World Cup Group K (portugal, Uzbekistan, Colombia)
Congo DR vs Jamaica (Zapopan, Mexico): Jamaica worked hard 1-0 Win against ranked outsiders New Caledonia in the semi-finals, so they will have to step up on several levels to have any hope of defeating Congo DR.
Congo, also known as the “Warriors of the Equator”, have a squad full of top-level European experience Aaron Wan-Bissaka (west ham united), arthur masuaku (lens), yoanne wissa (newcastle united) and captain chancel mbemba (Lily), so he should be too strong for a Jamaican team led by interim coach Rudolph Speed. of wrexham Bailey Cadamarteri Scored the match-winner for Jamaica against New Caledonia, but it will be difficult to repeat that effort against one of the strongest African teams.
Winner: Congo DR
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The winner enters World Cup Group I (France, senegal, norway)
Iraq vs. Bolivia (Guadalupe, Mexico): Iraq’s playoff preparations have been disrupted by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, forcing coach Graham Arnold Asking FIFA to postpone the game Due to the difficulties of his squad traveling through the region. But Tuesday’s match will go ahead and the Mesopotamian Lions will have a full squad due to call up after being granted permission to use a private jet to travel to Mexico. Whether the disruption to their plans will affect Iraq’s prospects remains to be seen, but Bolivia’s 2-1 semi-final win surinameWhen they overturned a 1-0 deficit to claim victory, it showed the South American nation was ready for the match – the same could not be said for Iraq. With no competitive games since December, Iraq may struggle to win this game and end a 40-year wait to participate in the World Cup.
Winner: Bolivia
