Who has qualified for the World Cup 2026? Did Italy qualify alongside England, are Hungary out - when is playoff draw, how do playoffs work?
Harry Kane scored twice as England beat Albania to complete a flawless World Cup qualifying campaign.
The Three Lions had already qualified as group winners and booked their ticket to America next year for the 2026 World Cup. Scotland, meanwhile, won after a tough and tantalising match against Denmark on Tuesday at Hampden Park. It was a winner-takes-all tie in Group C for automatic qualification.
Wales have defeated North Macedonia in their final Group J match in Cardiff on Tuesday to secure second place behind Belgium. They have now guaranteed a home play-off semi-final in March.
Who has qualified along with England?
- USA
- Canada
- Mexico
- Morocco
- Tunisia
- Egypt
- Algeria
- Ghana
- Cape Verde
- South Africa
- Ivory Coast
- Senegal
- England
- France
- Croatia
- Japan
- Iran
- Uzbekistan
- South Korea
- Jordan
- Australia
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Ecuador
- Paraguay
- Uruguay
- Colombia
- New Zealand
- Germany
- Scotland
- Switzerland
- Spain
- Portugal
- Netherlands
- Austria
- Norway
- Belgium
- Croatia
When is playoff draw, how do playoffs work?
There will be 16 European teams who advance to March’s play-offs, which will take place after the World Cup group-stage draw is conducted on 5 December. There are then just four more spots in the tournament.
The play-offs will be played in single-leg knockout matches, with the draw determining the path. The 16 teams will be draw into four sets of four, leaving each nation two wins away from the World Cup as semi-finals and then a final are played.
The Uefa play-off draw will take place on Thursday 20 November at 12pm GMT. The matches will be held in March 2026, with the semi-finals on 26 March and the finals on 31 March.
The inter-continental play-off draw will also take place on Thursday 20 November and will feature six teams, with the top two teams based on Fifa rankings receiving a bye through to the finals. Qualified (3/6): DR Congo, Bolivia, New Caledonia.
The 16 teams entering the draw will be split into four pots. The 12 group runners-up will enter the top three pots in order of their Fifa ranking, with the four Nations League group winners placed into pot four.
One team from each pot will be drawn into four separate paths: Path A, Path B, Path C and Path D. In each path, the pot one team will face the pot four team in a one-legged semi-final. The teams in pot two and pot three from each path will face each other in the other semi-final.
Teams in pot one and pot two will both be at home in the semi-finals. The draw will determine who hosts the final in each path. So for example, the Path A semi-final winners will play each other in the final with the victor qualifying for the World Cup.