World Cup 2026 Playoffs: The complete guide as Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland seek to book their places

World Cup 2026 qualifying reaches it's climax this week, starting tonight. Six spots for the 48 nation tournament remain, with the qualifying process is split into two sections: the Inter-Confederation Play-Off Tournament (2 spots) and the UEFA Play-Offs (4 spots).

The Inter-Confederation Play-Off Tournament is essentially a six-team 'mini-tournament' hosted in Mexico (specifically Guadalajara and Monterrey), which is also serving as a test event for the World Cup. It features teams from every confederation except Europe.

DR Congo and Iraq have the highest FIFA rankings, so they received a bye and go straight to the finals. Jamaica, Suriname, Bolivia, and New Caledonia play their semi-final tonight. Europe has its own separate bracket involving 16 nations (12 group runners-up and four via the Nations League), each fighting for the final four European spots via one-legged semi-finals (tonight) and finals (Tuesday).

FourFourTwo takes a look at the key story lines...

Fate for Bellamy?

Twenty-four years ago, Craig Bellamy’s defining moment as a Wales player came against Italy in Cardiff. Tonight, the same fixture could define his tenure as Wales manager.

Bellamy won 78 caps for his country, but none were more memorable than a European Championship qualifier with the Azzurri in 2002, when he rounded Gianluigi Buffon to net a famous winner at the Millennium Stadium.

Ryan Giggs was another of Wales’ stars that night, and knew even back then the fiery striker had determination and an understanding of the game that may benefit him after retirement. “He was obsessed with football and with being a brilliant player,” Giggs tells FFT now.

“He had quite a few injuries, and without those, he would’ve had an even better career. Although he could be temperamental, he had a great mind about the game.” Bellamy became Wales boss in July 2024 – succeeding Rob Page, who’d managed the national team at two major tournaments.

Page himself took over in 2020 after Giggs had to step back because of an assault charge. The former Manchester United star was later cleared after his ex-girlfriend opted not to give evidence at a scheduled retrial, and says he now wants to return to management – citing Europe, the US and the Middle East as destinations he would potentially be open to.

He’s been impressed by the job that Bellamy has done with Wales – guiding them back to League A in the Nations League, then securing them a World Cup play-off spot, having previously coached in Cardiff’s academy and under Vincent Kompany at Anderlecht.

“He’s earned his stripes – he’s coached at youth level and abroad,” Giggs says. “In the past, we haven’t had the same strength and depth, but Craig has been willing to start players who some fans don’t know in big games. He’s not been afraid to go against who the fans or the media think should be in the team.

“He’s developed a big squad and has been willing to give players a chance, so he’s working on the short-term and the long-term success.” Wales had to win their final World Cup qualifier at home to North Macedonia to finish second behind Belgium in their group and earn a home play-off semi–final. They would still have made the play-offs by virtue of topping their Nations League group, but the semi-final would have been away to more fancied opponents.

That Wales thrashed North Macedonia 7-1 – the visitors hadn’t lost any of their seven prior qualifiers – was a promising sign Bellamy’s side can deliver when the pressure is on. Harry Wilson bagged a hat-trick, earning them a home play-off semi-final against Bosnia at Cardiff City Stadium tonight – they’re favourites to triumph, even though Bosnia came within a whisker of winning their group ahead of Austria.

Star striker Edin Dzeko, now with Schalke in the German second tier, turns 40 nine days before the game. Wales will be without the injured Ben Davies, their most experienced player with 100 caps, but beating Bosnia would set up a home final with Italy or Northern Ireland on March 31.

A place in Group B of the World Cup would await the winners, and with it, fairly favourable matches up against Canada, Switzerland and Qatar. It’s the third time in four years that Wales have had a path to a major tournament via two home play-offs.

Last time, after a semi-final triumph over Finland, the enduring image was of Dan James’ heartbreak, after his shootout miss gave Poland a place at Euro 2024. Two years earlier, Gareth Bale’s heroics against Austria and Ukraine earned Wales their first return to the World Cup since 1958. Time will tell what drama awaits on this occasion. Craig Bellamy vs Italy, round two? Not if Northern Ireland have anything to say about it…

Northern Ireland's '80s Revival Quest

No one expected Northern Ireland to defeat Spain in Valencia at the 1982 World Cup – a Gerry Armstrong strike later, and the Green and White Army were celebrating the most famous result in their history. Beating Italy in Bergamo in a play-off semi-final on tonight wouldn’t be far behind in the list of the national team’s greatest accomplishments.

They would still have to win a play-off final on Tuesday, also away from home, to reach this summer’s World Cup. It’s an extremely tall order, but that won’t stop Northern Ireland dreaming of appearing at the tournament for the first time since a 3-0 defeat to Brazil ended their stay at the 1986 World Cup, in Guadalajara 40 years ago.

After reaching successive World Cups in the 1980s, their chances have usually faded well before the end of qualifying ever since. Northern Ireland’s biggest chance came in the play-offs for 2018, when a controversial penalty handed Switzerland victory and a spot in Russia.

This time around, it was the Nations League that offered them a route to the play-offs, after they topped a League C group consisting of Bulgaria, Belarus and Luxembourg, back in 2024. Despite finishing third in a World Cup qualifying group with Germany and Slovakia in the autumn, that Nations League triumph saw Northern Ireland bag the very last of Europe’s 16 play-off places, making them the underdog of all underdogs.

Losing their star man, Conor Bradley, to injury really hasn’t helped either, leaving Michael O’Neill with only two Premier League players – Crystal Palace’s Justin Devenny, plus Sunderland’s and Trai Hume – among his usual ranks. Key defender Dan Ballard is unfortunately injured.

Win the semi-final, and Northern Ireland would take huge confidence going into an away final O’Neill goes into the play-offs having just taken over as Blackburn manager in a job share agreement – that deal lasts until the end of the season, but while he’s currently contracted with Northern Ireland until Euro 2028, it now seems there’s a risk that this month could be his last hurrah with the national team.

Should they lose to the Azzurri in the play-off semi-final, they’ll play a friendly that no one really wants in five days time, away to the losers of the Wales versus Bosnia game. Win the semi-final, though, and they would take huge confidence into a play-off final against either side, both ranked lower than Italy.

O’Neill was brought back as Northern Ireland boss in 2022 to rekindle the spirit that remarkably drove them into the knockout stages of Euro 2016, during his first spell in charge. They’ll need every ounce of that spirit in the play-offs this month – albeit Italy’s history of totally imploding in World Cup play-offs gives them at least a glimmer of hope…

Italy, third time unlucky?

Since Italy lifted the World Cup in 2006, they’ve remarkably won only one match at the tournament – that came against England in 2014. They haven’t even qualified for the last two World Cups – now, they’re trying to avoid making that three.

The Azzurri’s association with the globe’s biggest tournament has been a tale of misery ever since their famous triumph in Berlin 20 years ago. Dumped out in the group stage in both 2010 and 2014, they then lost a play-off to Sweden during qualifying for 2018, missing out on the World Cup for the first time since 1958.

Despite winning the Euro 2020 crown in between, they didn’t reach the 2022 World Cup either – humiliatingly losing a play-off semi-final at home to North Macedonia. This time, they began qualifying as top seeds, but things went wrong in the first game as the Italians lost 3-0 in Oslo to a Norway side inspired by Erling Haaland, and boss Luciano Spalletti departed, replaced by Gennaro Gattuso.

“The qualifier against Norway was a tough one for the whole team,” Spurs left-back Destiny Udogie tells FFT, speaking during a visit to PUMA’s first European flagship store, on Oxford Street in London, having earned his 12th cap when he started that game. “Norway are a good team, they really are – in the past years they’ve built a really strong side, and going there is never easy.

"It was a tough game. We knew as soon as they won that game that it would be more difficult for us to win the group. We tried our best after that, but it wasn’t enough. We got 18 points – that’s still a lot of points.”

Italy won all six of their matches with Israel, Estonia and Moldova, the other three teams in their group, but so did Norway, ahead of a final fixture between the two group favourites at San Siro. However, Haaland’s relentless scoring meant Norway went into the game with a vastly superior goal difference, and Italy had to beat them 9-0 to top the group. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t – in fact, Norway hit four second-half goals to triumph 4-1 in Milan.

The play-off semi-final with Northern Ireland will be the Azzurri’s first game since then – ex-Udinese star Udogie hopes to gain a call-up to feature, and says Italy are determined to return to the World Cup after 12 years away. “Obviously people wanted to be there for the last two World Cups – it’s normal as a country, they expect us to be there, so it’s up to us that this time we make it,” he says.

“Playing at the World Cup was my biggest dream as a kid.” Italy’s main focus right now is on the Northern Ireland game. “That’s going to be like a final for us, so we have to make sure we go into the match with the right mindset,” Udogie insists.

The possibility of then facing a play-off final against Wales in Cardiff has been an intriguing one for Udogie, though – when the draw took place in late November, there was much discussion between the 23-year-old and his two Welsh team-mates at Spurs at the time, Ben Davies and Brennan Johnson.

Davies has since been ruled out of the contest with an ankle injury, while Johnson has joined Crystal Palace, but that won’t stop the banter flying between them if the fixture does happen. “Of course we joked about it – me, Ben and Brennan,” Udogie says.

“Hopefully we make it through and, definitely, I want to play against them, so we can try to win and reach the World Cup. I told them both that we’re going to win it, 100 per cent! As a country like Italy, you expect to be winning every game, so we’re going to perform to our best and go out there with just one focus, which is to win.

"With the staff, the players, everyone, it’s down to us to make it happen. We have to stick together, stay cool-minded and make sure we’re ready. For the country, for us, we’re going to try our best to be part of this World Cup.”

Luck of the Irish

For many Irish fans, a World Cup in North America conjures up an image of the Giants Stadium in New Jersey, in June 1994. “There were 75,000 fans inside the stadium, and you thought ‘Wow, is this a dream?’” Terry Phelan tells FFT now, having lined up at left-back for the Irish that day, when they recorded a famous 1-0 win over eventual runners-up Italy.

“Before kick-off, you walked down the tunnel and you had Franco Baresi there, Paolo Maldini, Roberto Donadoni, Daniele Massaro, Alessandro Costacurta and Gianfranco Zola. You thought to yourself ‘Have we got a chance here?’ Why we had a chance though was that 90 per cent of the stadium were Irish fans."

“We went out there with no fear. Jack Charlton played a 4-5-1, we saturated the midfield and stopped the ball from getting to Roberto Baggio – I forgot him in that list a minute ago! Then the ball went to Ray Houghton, and bang. That was a little bit of history.

To get out of the group was magical. We were one of the 16 best teams in the world – not bad for the little country of Ireland.” The chances of Ireland reliving those days this summer seemed over when they took just one point from their first three qualifiers, and having come third in their Nations League group under new Icelandic gaffer Heimir Hallgrimsson.

“The manager was under the cosh after early results didn’t go well, but it takes time,” Phelan says. “He’ll be a national hero if they qualify.”

Hallgrimsson was Iceland’s joint boss when they reached the quarter-final of Euro 2016, and in sole charge as they qualified for their first ever World Cup in 2018. Knowing how to get a nation punching above their weight, he led Ireland to victory in each of their final three qualifiers – a 2-0 home triumph over Portugal, followed by the incredible 3-2 comeback win in Hungary.

Troy Parrott scored all five goals, including the 96th-minute winner in Budapest, to write his name into Irish folklore. Suddenly, they were into this month’s play-offs, where they’ll face the Czech Republic in Prague in the semi-finals tonight.

Win, and they’ll host Denmark or North Macedonia in the final in Dublin five days later, although their play-off history against the Danes isn’t good – Ireland lost 5-1 at home to Denmark in the fixture that decided who went to the 2018 World Cup.

Should they qualify, they’d go into Group A with Mexico, South Africa and South Korea. Recent momentum has given Phelan confidence. “I think they can win both games – I can’t see the teams they’d have to face beating us, they’re not as good as Ireland on our day,” he says.

“Ireland have had to work hard to get into this position, they had a fantastic result in Hungary, and at home, I’d give them an 85 or 90 per cent chance of going to the World Cup.”

New Caledonia, who dis?

Regarded as the 26th best team in the world by FIFA, Nigeria are the highest-ranked country who have already been eliminated from qualification for this summer’s World Cup – New Caledonia, ranked 150th, could still qualify.

The intercontinental play-offs take place on neutral territory in Mexico this month, and will feature a Pacific Ocean archipelago that’s still a French territory rather than an independent nation.

New Caledonia is 750 miles east of Australia, but club side AS Magenta took part in this season’s Coupe de France, losing 3-0 at home to FC Mulhouse in November. The territory’s main footballing icon remains Christian Karembeu, who was born and raised there before moving to France at 17, then helping Les Bleus win the 1998 World Cup.

Thankfully, times were much different from those of his great-grandfather, who was horrifyingly exhibited in a cage at a human zoo, after being part of a group that was taken from New Caledonia to Paris in 1931.

Those awful days now long gone, New Caledonia has been gaining increasing autonomy from France, and the national team have also been steadily improving – a decade ago, they were ranked 191st out of 209 FIFA sides, but are now the second best team in Oceania after New Zealand, and earned an intercontinental play-off spot for the new expanded World Cup after finishing runners-up in the confederation’s qualifiers.

With a population of just 265,000, and having so far only had to overcome Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Tahiti, they’ll be huge underdogs for their semi-final clash against Jamaica in Guadalajara tonight, despite the Caribbean side’s inability to qualify so far.

A win would have been enough in their final qualifier at home to Curacao, but they drew 0-0 – Steve McClaren quit in his post-match press conference, rather than waiting for the play-offs. The winners of that semi-final are due to face the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who went directly to the final as the highest-ranked of the three teams involved.

However, their play-off place was subject to an appeal from Nigeria, who have claimed an eligibility issue for some DR Congo players during qualifying, because of a technicality. That aside, DR Congo could return to a World Cup for the first time since 1974 – then known as Zaire, they lost 9-0 to Yugoslavia, and baffled viewers when Ilunga Mwepu raced out of the wall as Brazil prepared to take a free-kick, then inexplicably booted the ball the length of the field.

Result: yellow card. Current stars Yoane Wissa, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Axel Tuanzebe are unlikely to repeat those antics during these play-offs.

Suriname: Accidental semi-finalists

Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Patrick Kluivert, Virgil van Dijk. Some of the Netherlands’ greatest ever players have been of Surinamese descent. Edgar Davids and Clarence Seedorf were even born there.

Suriname, however, have never made it to the World Cup themselves, and only reached these play-offs by accident. An independent country since 1975, sat on the north coast of South America but part of CONCACAF, Suriname would have automatically qualified had they won their final match in Guatemala.

Instead, they fell 3-0 behind and went through the motions, clearly not told that they could still make the play-offs with just a single goal. It came via a 93rd-minute own goal – no one celebrated, the team oblivious to its significance. Now, they face Bolivia in a play-off semi-final in Monterrey – still with a shot, albeit a small one, against a country that last reached the World Cup when it was in the US in 1994.

Donald Trump might have been relieved when the Bolivians pipped Venezuela to a play-off spot – they achieved that largely by moving their final qualifiers from La Paz, 11,932 feet above sea level, to Palo Alto, sat even higher at 13,412 feet above sea level to disorientate visiting sides even further.

La Verde went unbeaten across their last six home matches. Bad news, though: Monterrey is at an altitude of just 1,770 feet. Even if they beat Suriname, they’d then have to face their play-off path’s seeded team, Iraq, in the final on Tuesday.

Potter At The Wheel

New Zealand boss Darren Bazeley is the only English manager currently due to be at the 2026 World Cup, yet Graham Potter could still make it two, having taken over as the Sweden gaffer in October.

Potter made his name as a manager in Sweden with Ostersund, but took over a team in awful form – they had already lost home and away qualifiers to Kosovo. A forward line of Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres looked good on paper, but the former lacked match fitness after his summer transfer shenanigans.

Under Potter, Sweden lost in Switzerland and drew at home to Slovenia to finish bottom of their group, but still went into the play-offs having previously won their Nations League group. They’re away to Ukraine, whose play-off games will be held in… Valencia.

Why? Beat Sweden, and Ukraine will be at home to Poland or Albania – Ukraine often play in Poland, but may not want a play-off final to feel like an away game.

Kosovo: World Champions?

Kosovo could qualify for their first-ever World Cup this month – but they’re already the unofficial champions of the globe. The Unofficial Football World Championship title is decided like boxing: you’re champions until you lose, then it passes to the team who beat you.

Argentina were both the official and unofficial world champions in 2022, but the unofficial crown then passed its way via Uruguay, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Algeria and Sweden to Kosovo, who have gone through four further games unbeaten – two wins and two draws – since gaining the status in September.

They're in Slovakia for in their World Cup play-off semi-final – the winners will be unofficial world champs, and host the final against one of Vincenzo Montella’s Turkey or Mircea Lucescu’s Romanian side.