{"id":37230,"date":"2026-03-26T14:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T14:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/37230\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T14:25:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T14:25:11","slug":"fifa-world-cup-play-offs-italy-coach-set-for-biggest-match-iraq-bid-for-second-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/37230\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifa World Cup play-offs: Italy coach set for \u2018biggest match\u2019, Iraq bid for second finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

The remaining six places at this summer\u2019s Fifa World Cup are set to be decided over the next week.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Here is a look at how the two formats work.<\/p>\n

What are the European play-offs all about?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201csecond chance\u201d for those countries who came up short in regular qualifying. Northern Ireland, for instance, came through this route.<\/p>\n

\"Poland\u2019sPoland\u2019s star striker Robert Lewandowski will lead the line against Albania. Photo: EPAWho exactly are in the running for the remaining European spots?<\/p>\n

Four-time World Cup winners Italy had to settle for a place in the play-offs after finishing behind Norway in Group I.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The remaining six places at this summer\u2019s Fifa World Cup are set to be decided over the next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[2024,3184,4059,16502,16501,16499,8395,2978,382,537,16500,2037,34,94,384],"class_list":{"0":"post-37230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iraq","8":"tag-albania","9":"tag-bosnia-and-herzegovina","10":"tag-brazil","11":"tag-budapest","12":"tag-cardiff","13":"tag-democratic-republic-of-congo","14":"tag-denmark","15":"tag-fifa-world-cup","16":"tag-france","17":"tag-germany","18":"tag-guadalajara","19":"tag-hungary","20":"tag-iran","21":"tag-iraq","22":"tag-italy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116295940389610906","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}