2026 FIFA World Cup's UEFA Preliminary draws to be held Friday

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND - DEC. 13, 2024: The UEFA qualifying group stage, which will include 12 groups of four or five teams, will begin in March and conclude in November. The group winners will secure a place in the FIFA World Cup,The four remaining spots will then be decided with a 16-team UEFA play-off in March 2026 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.Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland will be in Pot 1.In Pot 2, Ukraine, Sweden, Türkiye, Wales, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Romania, Greece, Slovakia, Czechia and Norway will be included.Scotland, Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Israel will be in Pot 3.Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Belarus, Kosovo, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Greek Cypriot Administration, Faroe Islands, Latvia and Lithuania will be in Pot 4, while the remaining nations of Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein and San Marino will be included in Pot 5.Gibraltar/Spain, Kosovo/Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo/Serbia, Ukraine/Belarus, Iceland/Faroe Islands will not be in the same group as a result of the decision taken by the UEFA Executive Board.The opening match of the 2026 World Cup finals will be played June 11 at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.The final will take place July 19 at MetLife Stadium in the US state of New Jersey. (Footage by Dursun Aydemir /Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)