Men's Football FIFA World Cup 2026

[intoronto 6,387]

19 hours ago, OlympicIRL said:

I think Denmark will have too much for the rest of us in Path D. Maybe we can ask Infantino if we can be the 49th team  

Totally unrelated but made me think of thr Irish women's bobsled team at Vancouver 2010, who were awarded an extra quota to compete. So there is some past precedence in other sports 

[copravolley 498]

If Italy is to fear Wales even in Cardiff, or Bosnia in Sarajevo, then going to the World Cup makes no sense. Wales lost the Euro 2024 play-offs at home to Poland on penalties and recently lost 4-2 to Belgium in World Cup Qual. They are not exactly a home matador.

[OlympicIRL 5,644]

3 hours ago, intoronto said:

Totally unrelated but made me think of thr Irish women's bobsled team at Vancouver 2010, who were awarded an extra quota to compete. So there is some past precedence in other sports 

Oh yes I remember that  

Also references the time when our federation asked FIFA to be the 33rd team at the World Cup in 2010 after the play-off controversy involving the Thierry Henry handball in extra time.

 

Blatter laughed and made fun about it in public 

[JoshMartini007 2,762]

3 hours ago, intoronto said:

Totally unrelated but made me think of thr Irish women's bobsled team at Vancouver 2010, who were awarded an extra quota to compete. So there is some past precedence in other sports 

To be fair that quota was originally awarded to Ireland, but Australia argued for continental representation despite not being in the top 40 and were awarded it. As a compromise, they allowed Ireland to compete.

[LDOG 2,464]

Pots for the draw

 

[Henry_Leon 1,586]

Procedures of the Final Draw for the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Washington DC Friday, 5 December, have been confirmed, the detailed draw procedures are available.

 

No group will have more than one team from the same confederation drawn into it. This applies to all confederations except UEFA, which is represented by 16 teams. Each group must have at least one, but no more than two UEFA teams drawn into it.

 

For the two FIFA Play-Off Tournament placeholders, in order to comply with FIFA’s general principle to ensure that no group has more than one team from the same confederation drawn into it, the confederation constraint will be applied to all three teams within each pathway of the two FIFA Play-Off Tournament placeholders in pot 4.

 

 

[NearPup 3,479]

On 11/21/2025 at 10:19 AM, JoshMartini007 said:

To be fair that quota was originally awarded to Ireland, but Australia argued for continental representation despite not being in the top 40 and were awarded it. As a compromise, they allowed Ireland to compete.

It’s also that CAS ruled on it so late that it was not tenable to exclude Australia

[NearPup 3,479]

7 hours ago, LDOG said:

Pots for the draw

 

 first seeds, as God intended

[hoversaBR 613]

7 hours ago, LDOG said:

Pots for the draw

 

These FIFA rankings are awful, ugh.

[amen09 392]

So now we can have for exemple 

 

italy-brazil -Croatia  -tunisia    

Or

Canada -austria -tunisia  -newzealand