European World Cup qualifying explained

Julian Nagelsmann's side have been flying high in the UEFA Nations League of late, setting up a quarter-final meeting against Italy in the League A knockout stage. Prior to that two-legged affair next March, however, the four-time world champions will come closer to learning their qualifying fate for the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals, which will be hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States. 

In Friday's UEFA qualifying draw for the finals, Germany will be ranked among the top seeds in Pot 1, with teams to be distributed across five seeded pots.      

Germany's fellow Nations League quarter-finalists Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Croatia and Portugal are also among the Pot 1 teams. They will be joined there by the next top seeds in the FIFA world rankings who have not made it to the Nations League quarter-finals, namely England, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria. The FIFA rankings then dictate which of the remaining 46 teams fill Pots 2-5. Pots 1-4 contail 12 teams, Pot 5 has six.

Pot 1

Quarter-final 1 (Spain/Netherlands), quarter-final 2 (France/Croatia), quarter-final 3 (Portugal/Denmark), quarter-final 4 (Italy/Germany), England, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria

Pot 2

Ukraine, Sweden, Turkey, Wales, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Romania, Greece, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Norway

Pot 3

Scotland, Slovenia, Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Finland Iceland, Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel 

Pot 4

Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Belarus, Kosovo, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Lithuania

Pot 5

Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, San Marino

The 12 sections will be spread from Group A to Group L, with the top seeds being drawn first in each group. Pot 2 then follows, with the draw continuing down to Pot 5. Teams drawn in each group will play each other in home and away format. Groups A-F will contain four teams, Groups G-L will have five.

What will remain undecided immediately after Friday's draw is whether the remaining Nations League quarter-finalists - including Germany - will be placed into a qualifyng group containing four or five teams. It is the winners of those last-eight Nations League ties in March who will be allocated a place in one of the four-team groups while the losers go into a section containing five teams. Placeholders will thus be necessary during Friday's ceremony. 

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will feature an increased 48 teams, meaning the amount of sides qualifying from the European section of the draw goes from 13 at the 2022 World Cup to 16 for the next edition, the highest allocation of any confederation. 

The European qualifiers begin for five-team groups in March 2025 and for four team groups the following September. Group-stage qualifiers will then be complete in November 2025.

The group winners from each of the 12 sections qualify automatically for the 2026 finals. The 12 runners-up and four best-ranked UEFA Nations League sides from 2024/25 (who have not already filled either of the aforementioned categories) advance to a 16-team UEFA play-off consisting of one-legged semi-finals and a final to determine the last four qualifiers in March 2026.