Luxembourg’s national football team will have to get past neighbours and four-time World Cup winners Germany to qualify for next year’s tournament, after the final group line-ups were confirmed on Sunday.
Despite letting a three-goal half-time lead slip against Italy in their second leg in Dortmund on Sunday – in a dramatic game which ended 3-3 – Germany advanced to the semi-finals of the Nations League 5-4 on aggregate.
The result had a direct impact on the makeup of the qualifying groups for next year’s World Cup, with the winner over the two legs guaranteed to play in Group A, joining Luxembourg, Slovakia and Northern Ireland.
The next World Cup tournament will be held in the US, Canada and Mexico between 11 June and 19 July 2026.
The qualifying campaign in Luxembourg’s group will begin in September, with the group winners securing an automatic spot at the 2026 World Cup, while the runners-up will enter the play-offs.
Luxembourg will travel to the southwestern town of Sinsheim on 10 October for their first game against Germany, before the return fixture on 14 November at the Stade de Luxembourg. The two sides last met in a friendly game in 2006, when Germany won 7-0 in Freiburg.
Luxembourg played Slovakia twice during 2023 in qualifying matches for last summer’s European Championship, with Slovakia winning 1-0 in the Grand Duchy and the two sides playing out a goalless draw in Bratislava.
Northern Ireland were in Luxembourg’s Nations League group last year, beating the Red Lions 2-0 in Belfast before the teams held each other in a 2-2 draw at the Stade de Luxembourg in November.