Football. Italy, the latest opponent of the Blues… Who can still qualify for the World Cup?

There are six spots left. Six teams can still qualify for the first World Cup featuring 48 nations in history. From June 11 to July 19, in Mexico, the United States, and Canada, nations from all continents will try to lift the Jules Rimet trophy. While the leading football nations (France, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, etc.) secured their spots several months ago, there are still a few places left. The draw for the 2026 World Cup was done at the beginning of December, once most of the qualifiers were known, several teams are waiting to find out the identity of their last opponent in the group stage.

One such team is France: Didier Deschamps’ Blues were placed in Group I, with Senegal and Norway. Three teams were in contention to join this group through an intercontinental playoff: Suriname, Bolivia, and Iraq. After Bolivia’s 2-1 victory over Suriname on Thursday night, the South Americans will face Iraq on Tuesday night to Wednesday morning (5 am Paris time).

Another intercontinental playoff will determine the last qualified team in Group K, which includes Portugal, Colombia, and Uzbekistan. After beating New Caledonia in the playoff semifinals (1-0), Jamaica will face DR Congo on Tuesday night (11 pm) to secure their spot.

Heavy pressure on Italy

In Europe, four spots are still up for grabs, as UEFA will send 16 teams to the World Cup for the first time, a third of the participants. After last Thursday’s playoff semifinals, all finals will be played simultaneously on Tuesday night. Four years later, Sweden and Poland meet again to compete for qualification. If Poland (eliminated by France in the 8th round of the World Cup) won four years ago at home, the Swedes can now take revenge on their own turf.

The most anticipated final pits Bosnia-Herzegovina against Italy. Four-time World Cup winners (1930, 1934, 1982, and 2006), the Italians missed the last two editions and are highly anticipated by the entire country. Eliminated by Sweden in the home and away match before the 2018 World Cup, their hopes were dashed in 2022, as they lost at home to North Macedonia (1-0) in the playoff semifinals.

The third matchup will see Kosovo face Turkey, a semi-finalist in 2002, while the Czech Republic and Denmark (who was in France’s group in 2022) will compete for the fourth and final spot in Europe. By Wednesday morning, two and a half months before the global event, all qualified teams will be known.