Corriere della Sera<\/a>, 16 teams will participate in the playoff: the 12 runners-up in the European World Cup qualifying groups and the four best group winners of the 2024-25 Nations League, who have not yet earned direct qualification for the World Cup or have not finished as runners-up.<\/p>\nThe draw will take place on Thursday, November 20, at 13:00 CET (12:00 GMT).<\/p>\n
There will be a one-legged semifinal and a one-legged final. Italy will get their semifinal opponent from pot 4.<\/p>\n
The semifinal will be played at the home of the best-placed team in the FIFA ranking, while the final\u2019s venue will be decided by a draw.<\/p>\n
Italy a seeded team in the World Cup playoff draw
\n![\"Gianluca](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Gianluca-Mancini-celebrate-Moldova-Italy.jpg\")
Gianluca Mancini and Italy celebrate the opening goal in their 2026 World Cup qualifier against Moldova (@azzurri)<\/p>\n
The top three pots in the draw are determined by the FIFA Ranking, which means Italy are at least guaranteed a spot among the four seeded teams and will play the semifinal at home. The fourth and final pot is formed by the Nations League teams.<\/p>\n
Currently, with one game remaining, this is how the four pots look.<\/p>\n
Pot 1
Italy (9)
Turkey (26)
Poland (33)
Hungary (37)<\/p>\n
Pot 2
Scotland (38)
Czech Republic (44)
Slovakoia (46)
Albania (61)<\/p>\n
Pot 3
North Macedonia (65)
Iceland (74)
Bosnia & Herzegovina (75)
Kosovo (84)<\/p>\n
Pot 4
Wales
Romania
Sweden
Northern Ireland<\/p>\n
Wales can still finish as runners-up in their group, which would push them to Pot 1 and Poland to Pot 4, making them a possible Italy opponent.<\/p>\n
If the Azzurri qualify for the Final, they will find an opponent from Pot 2 or 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 World Cup playoff draw will take place on Thursday, November 20, at 13:00 CET, and Italy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-283872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"BERGAMO,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Moise-Kean-goal-net-Italy-Estonia.jpg\")
BERGAMO, ITALY \u2013 SEPTEMBER 05: (EDITORS NOTE: In this photo taken from a remote camera from behind the goal) Moise Kean of Italy scores his team\u2019s a first goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier match between Italy and Estonia at Stadio di Bergamo on September 05, 2025 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Mattia Ozbot\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n