Northern Ireland 2026 World Cup Qualification

This is a Northern Ireland news story, published by BBC, that relates primarily to Group A news.

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Sports

Northern Ireland: What stands between Michael O'Neill's side and 2026 World Cup?

Summary

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69% Informative

2026 World Cup will take place in USA , Canada and Mexico in the summer of 2026 .

Northern Ireland face Germany , Luxembourg and Slovakia in Group A.

The 2026 tournament will be 40 years since Northern Ireland last played in football's biggest tournament.

Germany are favourites to progress as Group A winners and automatically book their spot at the World Cup .

But there is still an outside path to Northern Ireland's World Cup dream.

The four Nations League group winners who have not already qualified or made a play-off will be handed a route into the play-offs. For O'Neill 's side to secure a play-off spot through this route, they would require eight of those 11 teams to finish in the top two of their World Cup qualifying group. Exactly who stands where might be clearer by the time Northern Ireland's delayed campaign begins in September , but finishing in the top two would simply take this convoluted process out of the equation..