World Cup 2026: What to know about the playoffs for next year's tournament

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ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) — The final six places for the 2026 World Cup will be determined by two playoff tournaments in March.

Four more teams will qualify from Europe, along with two from the rest of the world.

The UEFA playoffs will consist of 16 nations, while FIFA's intercontinental playoffs feature six.

The successful teams will join the 42 other nations to have qualified for the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, which runs through June and July.

Here's what to know about the playoffs.

Twelve runners up from the European qualifying groups advanced to the playoffs. Four more teams advanced as the highest-ranked group winners from the UEFA Nations League which did not place in the top two of their European qualifying group.

Group runners-up: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Kosovo, Poland, Ireland, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine, Wales.

Nations League group winners: Romania, Sweden, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia.

Teams will be placed in a seeded draw from four pots, based on the FIFA ranking position of the 12 runners-up. The top eight teams will be seeded. The bottom four, along with the Nations League qualifiers will be unseeded.

The four top-seeded teams in Pot 1 will be guaranteed semifinals against the Nations League qualifiers. There will be eight semifinals in total, with seeded teams drawn at home.

Seeded teams: (Pot 1) Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Ukraine; (Pot 2) Poland, Wales, Czech Republic, Slovakia.

The winners of the semifinals advance to four finals to determine the teams that qualify for the World Cup.

The semifinals will be played Mar. 26 and the finals will be Mar. 31.

The intercontinental playoff tournament will bring together six teams from around the world, vying for two qualifying places.

Two teams from CONCACAF and one each from Asia, Africa, South America and Oceania will compete.

Playoff teams:

AFC - Iraq

CAF - Congo

CONCACAF - Jamaica, Suriname

CONMEBOL - Bolivia

OFC - New Caledonia

The two highest-ranked teams, Iraq and Congo, are seeded and automatically advance to one of two playoff finals.

The four lowest-ranked teams are unseeded and will be drawn to play in two semifinals, with the winners advancing to one of the two playoff finals.

The two winning teams from the finals qualify for the World Cup.

The international playoffs will be held between Mar. 23-31.

The draw for the World Cup will be held in Washington DC on  Dec. 5 before the teams advancing via the playoffs have been confirmed.

The World Cup kicks off June 11 and the final is scheduled for July 19.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer