UEFA Preliminary Draw for FIFA World Cup 26 to take place on 13 December.

The FIFA World Cup 26™ qualifications are already underway in five of the six confederations, and UEFA national sides will soon compete for a spot in the largest athletic event ever.

The FIFA member associations connected with UEFA will discover their path to the game-changing tournament when the UEFA Preliminary Draw for the FIFA World Cup 26 takes place on Friday, December 13, 2024, at noon CET, at the FIFA Home in Zurich, Switzerland.

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#FIFAWorldCup 26 will kick off on 11 June 2026!#WeAre26 pic.twitter.com/BbJ4qMj7zy

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) February 4, 2024

The UEFA qualification group stage will start in March 2025 and end in November 2025. The tournament will have 12 groups of four or five countries, with the winners advancing to the FIFA World Cup™. The format remains consistent.

The four remaining spots will be determined in March 2026 by a 16-team UEFA play-off between the 12 group-stage runners-up and the four best-ranked UEFA Nations League 2024-25 group winners who have not qualified directly for the FIFA World Cup as group winners or have already entered the play-offs as group runners-up.

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