FIFA has just formalized the hats for the 2026 World Cup qualifying draws for the UEFA confederation which will take place on December 13. Here is their composition:
Hat 1: France, Spain, England, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland, Denmark and Austria
Hat 2: Ukraine, Sweden, Turkey, Wales, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Romania, Greece, Slovakia, Czechia and Norway
Hat 3: Scotland, Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Israel
Hat 4: Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Belarus, Kosovo, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia and Lithuania
Hat 5: Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein and San Marino
Italy does not yet know whether it will be drawn into a group of 4 or 5 teams, it will depend on the outcome of the Nations League quarter-final against Germany in March.
If she is eliminated, she will appear in a group of 5 and will begin the qualifiers in June. If she is qualified, she will participate in the Final Four of the Nations League in June and will begin her qualifiers in September in a group of 4.
The first of the twelve groups are directly qualified for the 2026 World Cup.
The 12 runners-up and 4 group winners of the Nations League will go to the play-offs (structured in two rounds to designate the last four qualifiers). This can be one group winner per division or several per division if all group winners in the same division have already qualified via the playoffs.
Second in its group behind France on overall goal difference in the Nations League, Italy cannot therefore be drafted in this way if it does not finish among the first two in its qualifying group…
???? Hot topics of the day:
• “SPALLETTI was ready to REIGN”, the president of the Italian federation returns to EURO 2024
• Fagioli, Zirkzee, SKRINIAR, Douglas Luiz… the winter MARKET of the JUVE dessine
• “Leaving the NAZIONALE was a bad choice that I would not do again”, MANCINI’s long-awaited confession
• DEL PIERO candidate for the presidency of the ITALIAN federation? It’s progressing!
• This LECCE player could trigger a real auction between big names at the next MERCATO
