When are the 2026 World Cup play-offs? Dates, venues and format

A total of 48 sides will compete at next summer's World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States of America.

42 of those spaces have already been filled through each confederation's own qualification process, leaving six more spots at the World Cup up for grabs.

Four of those sides will come from UEFA - the European confederation - while the other two will be from the rest of the world. Here's how the qualification process works and details on the games.

When are the World Cup qualification play-offs for UEFA sides and how do they work?

There will be four lots of semi-finals and finals that will all be played in the March international break. The semi-finals are currently scheduled to be played on Thursday, March 26, with the finals to be played on Monday, March 31.

The 16 sides competing in the play-offs are made up of countries who finished second in their qualifying groups, plus the four next best sides from the last round of the Nations League.

The sides were seeded into three pots based on FIFA world rankings, while pot four was made up of the four sides who earned passage via the Nations League.

The 16 teams were then split into four paths for a total of eight one-legged semi-finals, with the winners of each going on to their respective finals (one for each path). Teams from pots 1 and 2 will be at home in the semi-finals.

The draw is as follows, with the asterisk (*) indicating that the winning side will be the hosts for that path's final.

• Path A
  • Wales vs Bosnia and Herzegovina*
  • Italy vs Northern Ireland
• Path B
  • Ukraine vs Sweden*
  • Poland vs Albania
• Path C
  • Slovakia vs Kosovo*
  • Turkey vs Romania
• Path D
  • Czech Republic vs Republic of Ireland*
  • Denmark vs North Macedonia

When are the inter-confederation World Cup qualification play-offs?

The inter-confederation play-offs will also be held in the March international break, though exact dates are yet to be confirmed. All the games will be hosted in Mexico, at Guadalajara's Estadio Akron and Monterrey's Estadio BBVA, though the precise venues for each game are also yet to be announced.

Six sides will take part in the inter-confederation play-offs. AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONMEBOL (South America) and OFC (Oceania) are each represented by one team, while CONCACAF (North America, Central America and the Caribbean) will have two representatives.

There are two paths, with the winner of each path earning qualification to the World Cup. The two highest-ranked sides progress straight to the two finals - that's DR Congo and Iraq - while the other four sides will play in a single semi-final per path.

The paths have been drawn as follows:

• Path A
  • New Caledonia vs Jamaica
    • Winner faces DR Congo in the Path A final
• Path B
  • Bolivia vs Suriname
    • Winner faces Iraq in the Path B final

Which sides have already qualified for the World Cup?

The four UEFA play-off winners and the two inter-confederation play-off winners will join the following sides at the World Cup next year:

• Hosts
  • Canada
  • Mexico
  • United States
• AFC
  • Australia
  • Iran
  • Japan
  • Jordan
  • Qatar
  • Saudi Arabia
  • South Korea
  • Uzbekistan
• CAF
  • Algeria
  • Cape Verde
  • Egypt
  • Ghana
  • Ivory Coast
  • Morocco
  • Senegal
  • South Africa
  • Tunisia
• CONCACAF
  • Curacao
  • Haiti
  • Panama
• CONMEBOL
  • Argentina
  • Brazil
  • Colombia
  • Ecuador
  • Paraguay
  • Uruguay
• OFC
  • New Zealand
• UEFA
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Croatia
  • England
  • France
  • Germany
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Portugal
  • Scotland
  • Spain
  • Switzerland