World Cup, Italy even in case of qualification risks big

Bad news for Italy, which does not yet know if it will qualify for the 2026 World Cup but already knows that it will be included among the fourth-tier teams in the draw scheduled in Washington on Friday, December 5 at 6 p.m. Italian time (12 p.m. local time).

FIFA confirmed this today. The Azzurri will thus end up in the last group, along with all the national teams that will get a pass through the playoffs: four European and two from the intercontinental playoffs scheduled for March 2026.

In recent days there had been speculation that the brackets would be divided according to world ranking, with Italy ending up in the second bracket in this case, but in the end the initial criterion was confirmed, which rewards directly qualified teams.

So these are the brackets of the draw:

First bracket: Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Holland, Belgium, Germany.

Second bracket: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia.

Third bracket: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa.

Fourth bracket: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, the 4 European playoff winners and the 2 intercontinental playoff winners.