European World Cup qualifying play-offs: 11 seats are basically reserved for 16 teams! Italy’s opponents are announced, with specific brackets

On November 16, the penultimate round of the European World Cup qualifiers ended. The European World Cup qualifiers will come to an end, and the promotion situation becomes increasingly clear. The teams that have been confirmed to enter the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico include England, France and Croatia. Strong teams such as Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and Portugal are in good qualifying situations, and the play-off situation has also been updated. European World Cup qualifying play-offs: 11 seats are basically reserved for 16 teams! The Italian opponents are released, with specific brackets.

There are 54 teams in the European World Cup preliminaries, divided into 12 groups. The first place in each group goes directly to the World Cup. The second place in the 12 groups advances to the play-offs. There are also 4 play-off seats determined by the results of the UEFA Nations League, that is, the 4 teams that topped the UEFA Nations League group last season but missed the top two teams in the World Cup preliminaries.

In the European World Cup preliminaries, teams with the same points first compare the goal difference. In Group B, Switzerland currently ranks first with 13 points, 3 points more than the second place Kosovo, and 11 more goal difference. In the final round, the two teams will face each other directly, and Kosovo will most likely enter the play-offs. Spain, the top spot in Group E, is 3 points ahead of second-place Türkiye, with a goal difference of 14. Spain plays Türkiye at home in the final round, and there is not much suspense about the latter's entry into the play-offs. The Netherlands, the first place in Group G, is 3 points ahead of the second place Poland, with a goal difference of 13 points. In the last round, the Netherlands played Lithuania, the bottom team in the group. It is obvious that Poland will enter the play-offs.

Italy in Group I is 3 points behind Norway, with a goal difference of 17 fewer. There is no suspense about Italy entering the play-offs. In addition, Belgium, the leader of Group J, has 2 points more than North Macedonia and Wales behind it. In the last round, Belgium faced Liechtenstein at home, which had lost 7 games in a row and scored no goals. Wales played North Macedonia at home. Belgium has no problem going straight to the World Cup. The second place in Group K and Group L has been decided, namely Albania and Czech Republic.

The teams that have entered the play-offs through the UEFA Nations League are Sweden, Romania and Northern Ireland, and the other team will be Wales or North Macedonia. If Wales ranks second in the group, North Macedonia will advance to the play-offs through the UEFA Nations League performance, and vice versa. In other words, Wales and North Macedonia have already reached the play-offs. According to the rules, the four teams that entered the play-offs from the UEFA Nations League will be in the fourth pot, and the remaining 12 second-placed teams in the qualifying group will be divided into pots 1-3 based on the world rankings.

The 12 teams in the play-offs are divided into 4 groups and will play 2 semi-finals and the final. The winner will be determined by one game. The winning team will get a seat in the World Cup. Teams in Pot 1 and Pot 2 have home field advantage in the semi-finals and will face opponents in Pot 4 and Pot 3 respectively, and the final will be decided by a home draw. Italy, ranked 9th in the world, will participate as the first team in the play-offs and face one of the UEFA Nations League promotion teams Sweden, Romania, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia and Wales in the semi-finals. Do you think Italy can qualify?