It’s official: France is first in the 2026 World Cup series.
Fifa officially announces the composition of the hats born in 2020 with the qualifications of the players
World 2026 in the European area. The result was a victory on December 13, 2020, in the International (Site notre blog d’information) Federation’s victory in Zurich, Switzerland.
The number one pot dedicated to the seeded players will thus be made up of the eight quarter-finalists of the Nations League –
FranceCroatia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain – but also the other representatives of the continent are the best places in the Fifa class. Namely England, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria.
First edition of the World Cup with 48 countries, the European contingent is seen with three additional qualifiers, going from 13 to 16 ambassadors. The first 12 in each group will thus qualify directly for the 2026 World Cup. The last four seeds will be played in March 2026 during play-offs between the 12 runners-up in the group and “the four best-ranked teams in the 2023-24 Nations League – namely the group winners who have not yet validated their ticket for the World Cup or the play-offs,” specifies Fifa.
The composition of the five hats for the playoff draw:
Hat 1: France, Spain, England, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland, Denmark and Austria.
Hat 2: Ukraine, Sweden, Türkiye, Wales, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Romania, Greece, Slovakia, Czechia and Norway.
Hat 3: Scotland, Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Israel.
Hat 4: Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Belarus, Kosovo, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia and Lithuania.
Hat 5: Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein and San Marino.