FIFA and UEFA have announced the pots for the UEFA group phase of qualifiers for the 2026 Men’s World Cup. The draw will be held on FRI 13 DEC 2024 in Zürich, Switzerland, where the 54 teams will be allocated into twelve groups.

Six of the groups will contain four teams, and the other six will contain five. Teams in groups of five will start their qualifiers in MAR 2025, and teams in groups of four will start in SEP 2025.

With the recent addition of quarterfinal and promotion playoffs in the UEFA Men’s Nations League, some new constraints on the draw have been introduced. Since the quarterfinals and playoffs will also be played in MAR 2025, those teams will not play qualifiers during that time.

In addition, the quarterfinal winners advance to the final rounds in JUN 2025. To accommodate, the draw will use placeholders for the quarterfinal winners and losers. Placeholders for the winners must be placed in groups of four, and groups of five may contain no more than one of the playoff teams or quarterfinal loser placeholders.

The first pot contains the Men’s Nations League quarterfinalists, plus the four highest of the remaining teams in the FIFA rankings. The remaining pots are based solely on the FIFA rankings.

The first placed team in each group will qualify for Canada/​Mexico/​United States 2026. The second placed team in each group will advance to the UEFA playoffs, along with the four highest ranked teams that finished first in their groups in the UEFA Men’s Nations League.

• Pot 1: Austria*, Belgium*, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland
  • Men’s Nations League quarterfinals: Netherlands-Spain, Croatia-France, Denmark-Portugal, Italy-Germany
• Pot 2: Czechia, Greece*, Hungary*, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia*, Slovakia*, Sweden, Türkı̇ye*, Ukraine*, Wales
• Pot 3: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Finland, Georgia*, Iceland*, Ireland Rep*, Israel, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Northern Ireland, Scotland*, Slovenia*
• Pot 4: Armenia*, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria*, Cyprus, Estonia, Faroe Is, Kazakhstan, Kosovo*, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg
• Pot 5: Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, Malta, Moldova, San Marino

​* Men’s Nations League playoff teams