Victor Lindelof of Sweden during the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier match between Sweden and Slovenia at Strawberry Arena on Nov. 18 in Solna, Sweden.
Michael Campanella/Photo by Michael Campanella/Getty Images
Houston has known for months seven of the nine teams that will play at NRG Stadium during the 2026 FIFA World Cup group stage.
But by the start of April, it will know which two other teams will play the group stage here.
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Thursday marks the start of the World Cup qualification playoff, in which 22 teams compete in six mini-brackets for the final six berths in the World Cup.
Two of those teams will play in Houston. The winner of Interconfederation Playoff Pathway 1 will play Portugal on June 17. The winner of European Playoff Path B will play the Netherlands on June 20.
The formats for teams qualifying out of Europe and the teams qualifying out of the interconfederation playoffs are slightly different.
Robert Lewandowski of Poland celebrates with his teammates after defeating Malta during the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier Nov. 17 in Valletta, Malta.
Eurasia Sport Images/Photo by Kazimierz Koper/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images
What to know about the European qualification playoffs
There are four four-team brackets set up for the four remaining World Cup qualifiers from European. The format for each bracket is simple: two matches on March 26 with the two winners facing off March 31 with the World Cup spot on the line.
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The Thursday matchups for Path B will see Sweden and Ukraine face off in Valencia, Spain, while Albania and Poland will play in Warsaw.
Whoever emerges will join the Netherlands, Japan and Tunisia in World Cup Group E.
Ukraine, at No. 30, is the highest-ranked team in the Path B bracket. The team has only made one World Cup, in 2006, when it made a run to the quarterfinals, and advancing would mark a major accomplishment as the nation remains at war with Russia.
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On Poland’s squad, this is likely Robert Lewandowski’s last chance at World Cup glory. The striker and captain, 37, is one of the greats of the modern era, but World Cup success has evaded him. Poland got grouped in 2018 and then bowed out to France in the Round of 16 in 2022.
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Sweden enters the playoffs on a rough streak, after it struggled in World Cup qualifying, failing to win any of its six matches. The Blågult are also without star striker Alexander Isak, whom Liverpool acquired for $170 million in September. He is currently out with an injury.
Albania is by far the lowest ranked team of the quartet, ranked 63rd in the FIFA World Rankings. It has never made the World Cup.
Democratic Republic Of Congo’s defender Chancel Mbemba runs with the ball during the Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 football match between Algeria and Democratic Republic of Congo at the Prince Moulay El Hassan Stadium in Rabat on Jan. 6.
SEBASTIEN BOZON/Photo by SebastienBozon/ AFP via Getty Images
What to know about the interconfederation qualification playoffs
The interconfederation playoff has two brackets of three teams in each. The six teams that qualified came from the five non-European confederations. The lone confederation to receive two playoff bids was Concacaf.
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Each bracket features a semi-final game between two teams with the winner moving on to face the third team with the World Cup on the line.
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Pathway 1 features DR Congo, Jamaica and New Caledonia. As the highest-ranked team in the playoff, DR Congo received an automatic spot in the path’s final.
Jamaica and New Caledonia will play March 26 in Guadalajara, Mexico. The winner will play DR Congo for the spot in the World Cup on March 31.
Andre Blake of Jamaica looks to kick the ball during a 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup Group C match against Guadeloupe on June 20 at PayPal Park in San Jose, Calif.
Icon Sportswire/Photo by Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The country that wins the path will round out Group K with Portugal, Colombia and Uzbekistan.
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The DR Congo are the favorites to advance out of the playoff. The team ranks 48th in the world, compared to 70th for Jamaica and 150th for New Caledonia. The Leopards have lost only two of 11 matches since September. One of them was 3-2 defeat to Senegal and the other was a 1-0 extra time defeat to Algeria in January in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Jamaica has had success at the regional level over the past decade with two runners-up finishes and two other semifinal appearances at the Gold Cup since 2015. But the team hasn’t made a World Cup since 1998, and its direct qualification hopes were dashed by an underdog Curaçao squad.
New Caledonia would be the most unlikely World Cup qualifier in the tournament’s 96-year history. Les Cagous have played only one match against another international side since losing to New Zealand last year: a 2-0 win over Gibraltar, currently ranked 202nd out of 210 teams in the world, in October.