On Thursday, November 20, 2025, the FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-Off Tournament and European Play-Off draws will take place at the Home of FIFA in Zurich, Switzerland, determining the final teams to join the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
The draws will define the routes the 22 competing nations – six via the Play-Off Tournament and 16 through European Play-Off matches – will need to successfully navigate to seal a spot at the first-ever 48-team FIFA World Cup™, which will be staged in Canada, Mexico and the United States from Thursday, 11 June to Sunday, 19 July 2026.
The draws will be staged back-to-back, with the draw for the FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-Off Tournament commencing at 13:00 CET, followed by the European Play-Off equivalent.
The draws will take place just two days after the completion of the November 2025 international match window, which promises to be another action-packed period as the list of qualified nations for the 23rd edition of the FIFA World Cup continues to take shape.
Twenty-eight teams have already booked their places at next year’s historic tournament, with a further 14 nations – three from Concacaf and 11 from UEFA – set to punch their tickets to the finals via confederation qualifying this month.
The November international window will also define which teams from the AFC, CAF and Concacaf will join Bolivia (CONMEBOL) and New Caledonia (the OFC) at the six-nation FIFA Play-Off Tournament, as well as the 16 countries that will compete in the European Play-Offs, during the international match window from 23 to 31 March 2026.
The FIFA Play-Off Tournament will feature two finals where the winners of the two semi-finals between the unseeded teams will face the two seeded teams, with the eventual winners securing two spots at the FIFA World Cup 2026.
The European Play-Offs will be made up of 12 group runners-up and the four best-ranked UEFA Nations League section winners. The 16 teams who enter will be drawn into four play-off paths, with four teams in each. Play-off matches will be played in single-leg semi-finals followed by single-leg finals to decide Europe’s final four FIFA World Cup 2026 participants.
To ensure both draws can be conducted in accordance with the relevant draw procedures, the next edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking will be published on Wednesday, 19 November 2025.
Fans around the world will be able to follow the draws live on FIFA.com, FIFA+ and via media partners. Further details, including additional broadcast information, will be published on FIFA.com in due course.
Source/FIFA
