World European preliminary tournament system: The latest start with the European League of Nations parallel 54 teams for 16 places[weiyuan]

World European pre-grouping at a glance

With the approach of the 2026 World Cup, the European qualifiers will finally open the battle this weekend, Beijing time on March 22-26, the game from Group G to Group L will take the lead. As the latest World Cup qualifier in the world, the competition for the European qualifier is very fierce, and the schedule from March to June is also parallel with the European League, and 54 teams across Europe will compete for 16 tickets.

Due to the expansion of the USCAN-Mexico World Cup to 48 teams, the European zone has a total of 16 places, and the 55 members of UEFA, except for banned Russia, the remaining 54 teams will compete. The 54 teams are divided into 12 groups, with 6 groups of 4 teams and 6 groups of 5 teams. On December 13 last year, the World European pre-draw was held in Zurich, Switzerland, and the details of the grouping are seen at the end of the article.

According to the rules, 12 groups play home and away double round-robin matches, and the leader of each group will qualify for the World Cup, with a total of 12 seats. The remaining four places will be determined through the European Zone play-off, that is, the 12 group second and four teams from the 24-25 season of the Euroleague highest ranked four teams (did not finish first or second in the preliminary round) to participate in the 16 teams through the draw to form four groups of four teams, a single round elimination, the last four group first qualified for the World Cup.

The four teams from the European Nations League are ranked according to the level and points, ABCD four leagues a total of 14 groups, the 14 group leaders ranked in the top 4 to get qualified. However, in this ranking, if a team wins the first or second place in the World Cup, the vacant places will be filled according to the ranking.

With World Cup European Qualifying groups:

Group A: Europa League Germany/Italy winner, Slovakia, Northern Ireland, Luxembourg

Group B: Switzerland, Sweden, Slovenia, Kosovo

Group C: UEFA Portugal/Denmark losers, Greece, Scotland, Belarus

Group D: UEFA France/Croatia winner, Ukraine, Iceland, Azerbaijan

Group E: Champions League Spain/Netherlands winner, Turkey, Georgia, Bulgaria

Group F: UEFA Portugal/Denmark winner, Hungary, Ireland, Armenia

Group G: UEFA Spain/Netherlands losers, Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Malta

Group H: Austria, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, SAN Marino

Group I: Europa League losers Germany/Italy, Norway, Israel, Estonia, Moldova

Group J: Belgium, Wales, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein

Group K: England, Serbia, Albania, Latvia, Andorra

Group L: Losers France/Croatia, Czech Republic, Montenegro, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar