Fifa World Cup play-offs: Italy coach set for ‘biggest match’, Iraq bid for second finals

The remaining six places at this summer’s Fifa World Cup are set to be decided over the next week. As well as 16 European nations battling it out in the play-offs to secure one of four places available, Fifa is also holding a new six-team intercontinental event in Mexico that will determine the other two qualifiers. Here is a look at how the two formats work. What are the European play-offs all about? With the World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, expanded to 48 teams, Europe will send the most representatives: 16. Twelve of those spots have already been confirmed through qualifying. The play-offs feature the 12 runners-up from each group, the likes of Italy, alongside four teams from the 2024-25 Nations League rankings, which provided a “second chance” for those countries who came up short in regular qualifying. Northern Ireland, for instance, came through this route. Who exactly are in the running for the remaining European spots? Four-time World Cup winners Italy had to settle for a place in the play-offs after finishing behind Norway in Group I. The Azzurri, who have failed to make it to the past two World Cup finals, host Northern Ireland in Bergamo on Thursday night. “Tomorrow is definitely the most important match of my career,” Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso told reporters. “But I’m prepared … I’m not thinking about if things go badly, I want to think positively, think big, and tomorrow we’ll give it our best.” Gattuso admitted that for him Thursday’s match was in a way even bigger than the 2006 World Cup final, which he won as a player after a penalty shoot-out against France. Italy have not even played a knockout match at a World Cup since then, and eliminations in the qualifying play-offs in 2018 and 2022 have given Thursday’s match huge significance. The winners of that semi-final will go on to play either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina on March 31 for a place at the tournament. Wales face Bosnia in Cardiff on Thursday. Ireland, who edged out Hungary for second place in Group F after a memorable hat-trick from Troy Parrott in Budapest, travel to the Czech Republic for Thursday’s semi-final. The winners will then face either Denmark or North Macedonia. Elsewhere, Ukraine take on Sweden, with Poland hosting Albania in the other semi-final in that section. Ukraine’s footballers will hope to lift the morale of a war-torn country by competing at a first World Cup in 20 years. Sweden picked up just two points in a dismal qualifying campaign but a team now coached by former Chelsea and Brighton boss Graham Potter will get another shot on the strength of their Nations League performances. However, they will be without key man Alexander Isak as the Liverpool forward is not yet ready to return from a broken leg suffered in December. Poland can count on Robert Lewandowski who is eyeing a third World Cup, but Albania believe they have what it takes to qualify for the first time. Turkey play Romania and Slovakia face Kosovo in the other section. And what about the intercontinental tournament? There are two pathways, with matches taking place in Guadalajara and Monterrey. As with the European play-offs, the semi-finals take place on Thursday and the finals the following Tuesday. In one semi-final, Oceania minnows New Caledonia will play Jamaica, with the winners going on to meet top seeds Democratic Republic of Congo at the Estadio Akron for a place at the World Cup. The other pathway will see Iraq face the winners of the semi-final between Bolivia and Suriname in Monterrey. On paper, and according to the latest Fifa rankings, Iraq and the DR Congo will start as the heavy favourites to advance. Iraq’s preparations, however, have been hampered by the outbreak of war in the Middle East triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. Iraq coach Graham Arnold initially appealed to Fifa to postpone his team’s playoff, stating that many players and back room staff had been left stranded due to the war. However, players and staff based in Baghdad made it out of the country after reportedly travelling overland to Jordan before flying out of Amman to reach Mexico. Iraq are bidding to reach the World Cup for only the second time, having qualified for the 1986 finals in Mexico, where they lost all three group games against Paraguay, Belgium and Mexico. For DR Congo, meanwhile, the wait to secure their second World Cup finals appearance has been even longer. The country, formerly Zaire, last played at the 1974 World Cup finals in Germany, where they were eliminated in the group stage after defeats to Scotland, Yugoslavia and Brazil without scoring a goal.

Fifa World Cup play-offs: Italy coach set for ‘biggest match’, Iraq bid for second finals

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Gennaro Gattuso’s side is one of 16 European teams vying for four spots, while a six-team intercontinental event will fill two more places

What are the European play-offs all about?

Who exactly are in the running for the remaining European spots?

Gennaro Gattuso’s side is one of 16 European teams vying for four spots, while a six-team intercontinental event will fill two more places