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- World Cup playoffs scores
- World Cup playoffs highlights
- Who has qualified for the World Cup?
- How do the World Cup playoffs work?
- World Cup playoffs schedule 2026
The final six places at the 2026 World Cup will be determined over the next five days.
The semifinals of both the UEFA and intercontinental playoffs take place today (March 26), with the likes of four-time world champions Italy competing for a coveted place in this summer's group stage.
The winners of today's semifinals — four involving European teams, and two from the FIFA Play-Off Tournament — will contest finals next Tuesday for the right to play at the biggest World Cup we've ever seen.
The Sporting News is tracking the live scores and providing latest updates below.
2026 WORLD CUP HQ: Latest World Cup news | World Cup schedule | Buy World Cup tickets
World Cup playoffs live scores
UEFA semifinals: Thursday, March 26
Turkey vs. Romania
Czechia vs. Republic of Ireland
Denmark vs. North Macedonia
Italy vs. Northern Ireland
Poland vs. Albania
Slovakia vs. Kosovo
Ukraine vs. Sweden
Wales vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina
FIFA intercontinental semifinals: Thursday, March 26
Bolivia vs. Suriname
New Caledonia vs. Jamaica
MORE WORLD CUP NEWS:
- Updated World Cup playoffs bracket
- Italy's timeline of missed World Cups misery
- How do the World Cup playoffs work?
- Who has qualified for the 2026 World Cup?
World Cup qualifying live updates, results, highlights from today's matches
This section will be updated when the matches begin.
Who has qualified for the 2026 World Cup?
Forty-two of the 48 teams in the 2026 World Cup were drawn in December, with the remaining six spots to be filled by the UEFA and intercontinental playoff winners.
Here is the full list of countries to qualify for the World Cup so far:
| Nation | Confederation | Last World Cup appearance |
| United States (host) | CONCACAF | 2022 |
| Mexico (host) | CONCACAF | 2022 |
| Canada (host) | CONCACAF | 2022 |
| Panama | CONCACAF | 2018 |
| Haiti | CONCACAF | 1974 |
| Curacao | CONCACAF | None (First appearance) |
| Japan | AFC | 2022 |
| Iran | AFC | 2022 |
| Uzbekistan | AFC | None (First appearance) |
| Australia | AFC | 2022 |
| South Korea | AFC | 2022 |
| Jordan | AFC | None (First appearance) |
| Saudi Arabia | AFC | 2022 |
| Qatar | AFC | 2022 |
| Morocco | CAF | 2022 |
| Tunisia | CAF | 2022 |
| Egypt | CAF | 2018 |
| Algeria | CAF | 2014 |
| Ghana | CAF | 2022 |
| Cape Verde | CAF | None (First appearance) |
| South Africa | CAF | 2010 |
| Senegal | CAF | 2022 |
| Ivory Coast | CAF | 2014 |
| Argentina | CONMEBOL | 2022 |
| Ecuador | CONMEBOL | 2022 |
| Brazil | CONMEBOL | 2022 |
| Colombia | CONMEBOL | 2018 |
| Uruguay | CONMEBOL | 2022 |
| Paraguay | CONMEBOL | 2010 |
| New Zealand | OFC | 2010 |
| England | UEFA | 2022 |
| France | UEFA | 2022 |
| Croatia | UEFA | 2022 |
| Portugal | UEFA | 2022 |
| Norway | UEFA | 1998 |
| Germany | UEFA | 2022 |
| Netherlands | UEFA | 2022 |
| Spain | UEFA | 2022 |
| Belgium | UEFA | 2022 |
| Switzerland | UEFA | 2022 |
| Austria | UEFA | 1998 |
| Scotland | UEFA | 1998 |
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| Intercontinental playoff winner 1 | _ | |
| Intercontinental playoff winner 1 | _ |
How do the World Cup playoffs work?
UEFA playoffs
Twelve of UEFA's 16 spots were taken by the group winners from the initial format of four or five-team groups. The 12 runners-up, along with the four best UEFA Nations League group winners that finished outside of the top two in their World Cup qualifying groups, enter the playoffs.
Those 16 teams were drawn into four paths with two single-game rounds. The seeded teams will be at home in the semifinals, with a home nation for the four finals drawn in advance. The winners from each path advance to the World Cup. UEFA is the only confederation without a representative in the inter-continental playoff.
The full draw and brackets for the UEFA playoffs are detailed here.
Intercontinental playoffs
The two teams in the six-nation playoff with the highest FIFA ranking are seeded. The four unseeded teams play an effective semifinal, with the two winners progressing to face a seed apiece to decide the final two places at the World Cup.
The four-game playoff will be used as a World Cup test event and played in two venues in Mexico, with some games at Estadio Akron in Guadalajara and others at Estadio BBVA in Monterrey.
World Cup qualifying pathways
The UEFA playoff paths, like their intercontinental counterparts, were placed into Pot 4 for the group-stage draw because the individual qualifiers were not known at the time. That meant a potentially more difficult group stage for the teams that progress.
The pathways were drawn as follows:
- UEFA Playoff A winner: Group B (Canada, Qatar, Switzerland)
- UEFA Playoff B winner: Group F (Netherlands, Japan, Tunisia)
- UEFA Playoff C winner: Group D (USA, Paraguay, Australia)
- UEFA Playoff D winner: Group A (Mexico, South Africa, South Korea)
Meanwhile, the intercontinental playoff winners will be drawn into Group K and Group I:
- FIFA Playoff 1 winner: Group K (Portugal, Uzbekistan, Colombia)
- FIFA Playoff 2 winner: Group I (France, Senegal and Norway)
WORLD CUP DRAW BREAKDOWNS:
Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D | Group E | Group F
Group G | Group H | Group I | Group J | Group K | Group L
World Cup playoffs schedule 2026
European playoffs
Pathway A
Semifinal
| Date | Time (ET) | Match | Location |
| March 26, 2026 | 2:45 p.m. | Italy vs. Northern Ireland | New Balance Arena (Bergamo, Italy) |
| March 26, 2026 | 2:45 p.m. | Wales vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina | Cardiff City Stadium (Cardiff, Wales) |
Final
| Date | Time (ET) | Match | Location |
| March 31, 2026 | 2:45 p.m. | Winner SF 2 vs. Winner SF 1 | TBD (Wales/Bosnia & Herzegovina winner host) |
Pathway B
Semifinal
| Date | Time (ET) | Match | Location |
| March 26, 2026 | 2:45 p.m. | Ukraine vs. Sweden | Estadi Ciutat de Valencia (Valencia, Spain) |
| March 26, 2026 | 2:45 p.m. | Poland vs. Albania | PGE Narodowy (Warsaw, Poland) |
Final
| Date | Time (ET) | Match | Location |
| March 31, 2026 | 2:45 p.m. | Winner SF 3 vs. Winner SF 4 | TBD (Ukraine/Sweden winner host) |
Pathway C
Semifinal
| Date | Time (ET) | Match | Location |
| March 26, 2026 | 12 p.m. | Turkey vs. Romania | Besiktas Stadyumu (Istanbul, Turkey) |
| March 26, 2026 | 2:45 p.m. | Slovakia vs. Kosovo | Tehelne pole (Bratislava, Slovakia) |
Final
| Date | Time (ET) | Match | Location |
| March 31, 2026 | 2:45 p.m. | Winner SF6 vs. Winner SF5 | TBD (Slovakia/Kosovo winner host) |
Pathway D
Semifinal
| Date | Time (ET) | Match | Location |
| March 26, 2026 | 2:45 p.m. | Denmark vs. North Macedonia | Parken (Copenhagen, Denmark) |
| March 26, 2026 | 2:45 p.m. | Czechia vs. Republic of Ireland | Fortuna Arena (Prague-Vrsovice, Czechia) |
Final
| Date | Time (ET) | Match | Location |
| March 31, 2026 | 2:45 p.m. | Winner SF8 vs. Winner SF7 | TBD (Czechia/Rep. of Ireland winner host) |
Intercontinental playoffs
Pathway 1
Semifinal
| Date | Time (ET) | Match | Location |
| March 26 | 7 p.m. | New Caledonia vs. Jamaica | Estadio Akron (Guadalajara) |
Final
| Date | Time (ET) | Match | Location |
| March 31 | 2 p.m. | DR Congo vs. Semifinal winner | Estadio Akron (Guadalajara) |
Pathway 2
Semifinal
| Date | Time (ET) | Match | Location |
| March 26 | 1 p.m. | Bolivia vs. Suriname | Estadio BBVA (Monterrey) |
Final
| Date | Time (ET) | Match | Location |
| March 31 | 8 p.m. | Iraq vs. Semifinal winner | Estadio BBVA (Monterrey) |
SN's Kyle Bonn contributed to this article
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