Italy’s World Cup Qualifying Journey and Intercontinental Playoffs Overview

Italy is set to host Northern Ireland in a pivotal World Cup qualifying playoff in March. The outcome of this match will determine if Italy can progress to the tournament, marking a significant opportunity for the team to break a streak of back-to-back failures at this stage.

On Thursday, FIFA conducted the draw for the playoffs, which will see the winner of the Italy vs. Northern Ireland match on March 26 travel five days later to compete against either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina. This playoff round holds substantial importance as it offers a chance to secure a coveted spot in the inaugural 48-team finals tournament, to be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Italy has not participated in a World Cup since 2014 and found themselves in the playoffs after finishing as runners-up in their qualifying group, which was topped by Norway earlier this month.

In other playoff brackets across Europe, Ukraine will host Sweden, with the winner advancing to face either Poland or Albania at home. Additionally, Kosovo, the newest footballing nation in Europe, will begin their quest for a first-ever World Cup with an away fixture against Slovakia, followed by a home match against either Turkey or Romania.

Ireland’s remarkable victories over Portugal and Hungary have earned them a playoff semifinal against the Czech Republic. The victor of this match will subsequently host either Denmark or North Macedonia.

FIFA also revealed the draw for the six-nation intercontinental playoffs, which do not include European teams. Iraq, who were seeded in the draw, must defeat either Bolivia or Suriname in a single-game playoff next March to advance.

Congo is seeded in another intercontinental bracket and will face the winner of a semifinal match between New Caledonia and Jamaica.

The six intercontinental playoff matches will take place in Mexico from March 23-31, utilizing stadiums in Guadalajara and Monterrey, both of which will also host four World Cup games next June.

In total, six teams will progress from these playoff rounds in March to complete the lineup for the first 48-nation World Cup. The remaining 42 teams were confirmed this week following the conclusion of qualifying groups and playoff matches across four continents.

The World Cup draw is scheduled for December 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., where the six unconfirmed playoff teams will be drawn as placeholders from the lowest-ranked teams in the seeded draw.

A dramatic penalty scored by Iraq in the 17th minute of stoppage time against the United Arab Emirates secured their place in the global playoffs. Iraq triumphed with a 2-1 victory in Basra, concluding a two-leg Asian playoff with an aggregate score of 3-2.

Iraq’s only previous World Cup appearance was in 1986. Coach Graham Arnold, who previously guided Australia to the round of 16 in the 2022 tournament in Qatar, is now looking to lead Iraq back to the global stage.

New Caledonia, currently the lowest-ranked team in the playoffs at No. 149 among FIFA’s 211 member countries, advanced to the playoffs after defeating Tahiti 3-0 in March. They subsequently lost to New Zealand in the Oceania qualifying final. Coach Johann Sidaner’s team has only played one match since, a friendly win against Gibraltar last month.