European qualification for the 2026 World Cup begins this week, with England and Wales among the teams in action.

England’s first match under new head coach Thomas Tuchel is against Albania at Wembley on Friday, 21 March, before they host Latvia three days later.

Craig Bellamy’s Wales play at home to Kazakhstan on Saturday, 22 March, before a trip to North Macedonia on Tuesday, 25 March.

Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have been drawn in four-team groups and will not start their World Cup qualifying campaigns until September.

England’s Group K includes Serbia and Andorra, while Wales’ two other Group J opponents are Belgium and Liechtenstein.

Scotland are in Group C along with Greece, Belarus and the loser of the Portugal v Denmark Nations League quarter-final.

Northern Ireland’s Group A opponents are Slovakia, Luxembourg and the winner of the Germany v Italy Nations League game, while the Republic of Ireland are in Group F with the winner of the Portugal v Denmark tie, Hungary and Armenia.

The World Cup qualifiers will be played across five international breaks between March and November 2025.

The top team from each of the 12 groups qualifies automatically for the World Cup, which will be held in the US, Canada and Mexico – with the second-placed teams going into the play-offs. A total of 16 European teams will qualify.

The BBC will show all World Cup qualifiers for the men’s teams of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland live.

Some of the groups will not be finalised until after the Nations League quarter-finals in March.

Group A: Germany/Italy (winner), Slovakia, NORTHERN IRELAND, Luxembourg.

Group B: Switzerland, Sweden, Slovenia, Kosovo.

Group C: Portugal/Denmark (loser), Greece, SCOTLAND, Belarus.

Group D: France/Croatia (winner), Ukraine, Iceland, Azerbaijan.

Group E: Spain/Netherlands (winner), Turkey, Georgia, Bulgaria.

Group F: Portugal/Denmark (winner), Hungary, REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, Armenia.

Group G: Spain/Netherlands (loser), Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Malta.

Group H: Austria, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, San Marino.

Group I: Germany/Italy (loser), Norway, Israel, Estonia, Moldova.

Group J: Belgium, WALES, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein.

Group K: ENGLAND, Serbia, Albania, Latvia, Andorra.

Group L: France/Croatia (loser), Czech Republic, Montenegro, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar.

Divided into 12 groups, six have four teams and six have five teams.

Teams will play each other home and away as usual.

The top team from each group qualifies automatically for the World Cup, with the runners-up going into the play-offs with four Nations League teams.

Those 16 play-off teams will be put into pots based on their records in the group and drawn into four paths with single-leg semi-finals and finals.

The games will be held over 10 matchdays during five international breaks.

Those international breaks are 21-25 March, 6-10 June, 4-9 September, 9-14 October and 13-18 November.

However, no team will play World Cup qualifiers on all those dates because there is a maximum of eight games. They can play friendlies on any free dates.

Some teams will start in March, others will start in June, and four-team groups will not start until September.

Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, for example, will be playing Nations League promotion/relegation play-offs instead in March.

Teams who win the Nations League quarter-finals will not be in World Cup qualifying action until September.

The play-offs will be on 26-31 March 2026.

Northern Ireland’s opening game is on 4 September in Luxembourg with Scotland going to either Denmark or Portugal on 5 September.

The World Cup will start on 11 June 2026 in Mexico City and end on 19 July in New Jersey.

The expanded 48-team tournament will last a record 39 days.

The new format will feature 12 four-team groups and a last-32 knockout round for the first time.

At the moment, we only know three of the 48 nations that will be playing at the 2026 World Cup as the three host countries – Canada, Mexico and the United States – qualify automatically.

Europe will have 16 spots, Africa a minimum of nine, Asia at least eight, North/Central America a further three qualifiers, with one nation from Oceania.

The last two places will be decided from intercontinental play-offs, which will include two countries from North/Central America and one apiece from Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America.

Oceania – table

On 24 March we will find out the first nation to come through qualifying, expected to be New Zealand.

There are only four teams left in Oceania qualifying and they play in two semi-finals on 21 March before a final three days later, with the winner securing their place at the World Cup. The semi-finals pit New Caledonia against Tahiti, with New Zealand playing Fiji.

South America – table

South American qualifying began in September 2023 and, as in previous campaigns, the 10 teams on the continent play each other twice with the nations in one league table.

World Cup holders Argentina are top with eight wins and a draw from their 12 of 18 matches. The top six in the league table at the end all qualify, with those spots currently occupied by Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil and Paraguay, while Bolivia are seventh, which would take them into the play-offs.

Asia – table

Eighteen Asian nations are still in contention to claim the eight automatic places.

Asian qualifying has already had two-legged matches and a first group phase, with the 18 sides left split into three groups of six with the top two qualifying automatically.

After six of 10 matches, Iran, South Korea and Japan are all still unbeaten in this phase and in strong positions to qualify. Those sides finishing third and fourth would then move into a later phase to decide the other qualifiers and who enters the play-off.

Africa – table

African qualifying is still at an early stage, with each nation still having five or six group matches to play. The nations have been drawn into nine groups, each holding either five or six countries, with those that come top heading to the tournament.

Sides finishing as runners-up in their group have a second chance and one of them will reach the intercontinental play-offs.

Morocco have won their first three qualifying matches, while Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Tunisia are among the other teams that have made good starts to their campaigns.

North/Central America – table

As well as the three host nations, there will be at least three other countries from North/Central America at the 2026 World Cup.

Qualifying is still at an early stage with there being six groups of five nations apiece, before a second group phase will take place to find out the qualifiers.

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