The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) announced on Tuesday the pots for the 2026 World Cup draw, which will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Kosovo still has hopes of reaching the World Cup. The “Dardans” will play in the semi-finals of the European play-offs for qualification. On March 26, Kosovo faces Slovakia in Bratislava.
If they win, they will face the winner of the Turkey-Romania match on March 31. A victory in that match would also secure historic qualification for Kosovo.
If qualified, Kosovo will be in pot four for the draw, along with the winners of three other European play-offs, two intercontinental ones and the teams of Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti and New Zealand.
The first pot has names like Canada, Mexico, USA (as hosts), Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
In the second pot are Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria and Australia.
As for the third pot, Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Africa have taken their places.
The World Cup draw will be held on December 5 in Washington and is expected to be a grand ceremony, attended by delegations from all qualified federations, as well as those still in the competition, including Kosovo.
This will be the first edition of the World Cup with 48 teams, divided into 12 groups of four teams each. The top two teams from each group advance to the round of 32, along with the eight best third-place teams.
FIFA has decided to divide the pots based on the latest world rankings, so that the favorite teams do not face each other in the early stages of the tournament.
Kosovo’s qualification, as well as Albania’s, would represent a historic achievement for Albanian football and an unforgettable moment in the history of our national teams. /Telegraph/