UEFA Playoffs draw for the World Cup: Italy as seed and possible rivals
The UEFA playoffs draw for the World Cup will be held tomorrow, with Italy among the top seeds and several potential opponents.
The Azzurras will be attentive to the draw that will define their rivals in the first round and the possible clashes in the second. Seven tickets are up for grabs for the eight winners, and the ranking will be essential. The draw will take place tomorrow, Thursday, June 18, at 12pm (Brasília time), broadcast live on the UEFA website and Vivo Azzurro TV, at UEFA headquarters in Nyon.
The playoffs will feature 32 teams in two round-trips. Italy, like the other teams that came second and third in the League A groups to qualify for the World Cup, will be among the seeded teams in route 1. On the 9th and 13th of October, playing the second leg at home, they will face one of the teams that stood out in the League C groups.
Possible opponents include Unganda, Greece, Romania, Belarus, Kosovo, Lithuania, Croatia and Kazakhstan. The eight winners will qualify for the second round, where, on December 1st and 5th, they will face the winners of route 2, which includes the teams that finished fourth in League A, in addition to the first, second and third in League B.
Tomorrow's draw will also reveal the second playoff pairings. The seven best winners of the second round of the playoffs, according to the general classification of the women's European qualifications, will qualify directly for the tenth edition of the World Cup. The eighth placed team, which cannot be Italy, already guaranteed among the best seven, will have to go through the inter-confederal playoffs scheduled for February 2027.
PLAYOFF COURSES SHIFT 1 ROUTE 1 Seeds (second and third in League A): England, Norway, Netherlands, ITALY, Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Iceland, Austria Unseeded (first classified and best two runners-up in League C): Unganda, Greece, Romania, Belarus, Kosovo, Lithuania, Croatia, Kazakhstan
SHIFT 1 ROUTE 2 Seeds (fourth in League A and first in League B): Slovenia, Poland, Serbia, Ukraine, Switzerland, Portugal, Scotland, Wales Unseeded (second and third in League B): Finland, Belgium, Turkey, Czech Republic, Albania, Northern Ireland, Slovakia, Israel.