After the publication of the updated FIFA Ranking – Italy are in 9th – the pots and procedure for European qualifying for the 2026 World Cup have now also been announced. The tournament, which will take place in Canada, Mexico and the USA, will be the first iteration in history to be contested by 48 teams, with the number of European qualifying spots increasing from 13 to 16. Having qualified for the Nations League quarter-finals, Italy will be placed into pot 1 for the draw, which takes place in Zurich on Friday 13 December. Head Coach Luciano Spalletti will attend the ceremony. In pot 1 alongside the Azzurri are the other seven Nations League quarter-finalists (Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain) and the remaining four best-ranked UEFA member countries (England, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria).

The 54 teams in the draw will be sorted into twelve groups: six groups of five teams and as many groups of four. There will be a few gaps left; the eight Nations League quarter-finalists will only learn their opponents after March’s round of fixtures because the teams that reach the Final Four will need to be inserted into one of the groups of four teams, and start their qualifying campaign in September 2025. Should the Azzurri get knocked out in March, there are two possibilities: they will be placed into one of the remaining two groups of four all the same and play two friendlies in June and their first qualifier in September, or they will be placed into a group of five and they will start the road to the World Cup in June.

All twelve group winners will qualifier directly for the World Cup, while the remaining four UEFA spots will be assigned via a play-off system involving the group runners-up and the four best-performing teams in the Nations League who do not finish the top two in their World Cup qualifying groups.

The pots for the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw

Pot 1: France, Spain, England, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria.

Pot 2: Ukraine, Sweden, Turkey, Wales, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Romania, Greece, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Norway.

Pot 3: Scotland, Slovenia, Republic of Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel.

Pot 4: Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Belarus, Kosovo, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Lithuania.

Pot 5: Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, San Marino.