The seeded teams for the World Cup tournament draw, which will take place on December 5th, have been defined. Following the conclusion of the qualifiers on four continents, FIFA published the new rankings, thus establishing the basis for the competition.
The hosts, the United States, Canada, and Mexico, will join Spain, Argentina (defending champions), France, England, Portugal, Brazil, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany in the seeded pot.
Croatia, a semi-finalist in 2022 and runner-up in 2018, was relegated to pot 2 for the draw ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
The updated FIFA rankings also determined the seeding for Thursday’s draw of the March playoff brackets, which will decide the final six entries into the expanded 48-nation lineup.22 teams will participate in the playoffs, including 16 from Europe who will compete for four places in the World Cup and six from other regions who will seek two places in the intercontinental playoffs.
Italy leads the European charts, as the four-time world champions seek to avoid a humiliating third consecutive elimination in the playoffs.
The Italians, ranked 12th, were pushed into the playoffs after finishing second in a qualifying group won by Norway.
Erling Haaland’s Norwegian team is emerging as a dangerous option from pot 3.
Italy will face at home on Thursday a team seeded in the fourth pot. It could be North Macedonia again, who surprisingly eliminated the Italians in 2022.
The winner on March 26th will advance to a playoff final five days later against the team that emerges from the match between the second and third seeds in their elimination bracket.
It is expected that the teams that ultimately emerge from the four separate European playoff brackets will be substitutes from pot 4 in the December 5 draw.
The intercontinental brackets will see Iraq and Congo, both seeded, await the winner of the playoff semi-finals involving Bolivia, Jamaica, New Caledonia, and Suriname.
European Playoffs:
Pot 1: Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Ukraine.
Pot 2: Poland, Wales, Czech Republic, Slovakia.
Pot 3: Republic of Ireland, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo.
Pot 4: Northern Ireland, Romania, Sweden, North Macedonia.
