The top seeded teams for the 5 December World Cup tournament draw include: Germany but no croatiaThey were determined on Wednesday when FIFA published the new rankings the day after the four continents completed qualifying.
co-host of United States of America, Canada And Mexico The top-ranked No. 1 seeds will join the pot spaindefending champion argentina, France, England, portugal, brazilThe Netherlands, belgium And Germany.
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Croatia, a semi-finalist in 2022, and France, a finalist in 2018, advanced to Pot 2 for the draw ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, which President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend.
The updated FIFA rankings also decided the seedings for Thursday’s draw for the playoff bracket in March, which will decide the final six entries in the expanded 48-nation lineup.
The 22 playoff teams include 16 teams from Europe playing for four World Cup spots and six from other regions chasing two spots in the intercontinental bracket.
Italy There are headliners in the European bracket as the four-time world champions aim to avoid a humiliating exit in the playoffs for the third consecutive time.
The 12th-ranked Italians were pushed into the playoffs after finishing runner-up in the qualifying group won by Norway. erling hollandThe Norwegian team looks set to be a dangerous option from Pot 3 in two weeks’ time.
Italy will face the fourth seeded team on home ground on Thursday. It could be North Macedonia again, who surprisingly eliminated the Italians in 2022.
The winner on March 26 advances to the playoff final five days later against the team that emerges from the No. 2 seed vs. No. 3 seed pairing in the knockout bracket. Home advantage in the single-game playoff final will be determined by Thursday’s draw, not FIFA rankings.
The teams that ultimately emerge from four different European playoff brackets are expected to become placeholders from the lower-ranked Pot 4 in the December 5 draw.
The intercontinental bracket will see the top seeds Iraq And Congo Everyone awaits the winner of the playoff semi-finals bolivia, Jamaica, New Caledonia And suriname,
European playoff seeding
Pot 1: Italy, denmark, turkey, ukraine,
Pot 2: poland, wales, Czechia, slovakia,
Pot 3: republic of ireland, albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo,
Pot 4: northern ireland, romania, sweden, north macedonia,
Intercontinental Playoff
Preferred: Congo, Iraq.
Unseeded: Bolivia, Jamaica, New Caledonia, Suriname.
