World Cup 2026 playoffs live scores: Updated results, highlights from UEFA and FIFA intercontinental qualifiers

· Yahoo Sports

World Cup 2026 playoffs live scores: Updated results, highlights from UEFA and FIFA intercontinental qualifiers originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

JUMP TO:

Visit sport-tr.bet for more information.

The final six places at the 2026 World Cup will be determined over the next five days.

The semifinals of both the UEFA and intercontinental playoffs take place today (March 26), with the likes of four-time world champions Italy competing for a coveted place in this summer's group stage.

The winners of today's semifinals — four involving European teams, and two from the FIFA Play-Off Tournament — will contest finals next Tuesday for the right to play at the biggest World Cup we've ever seen.

The Sporting News is tracking the live scores and providing latest updates below.

2026 WORLD CUP HQ:Latest World Cup news | World Cup schedule | Buy World Cup tickets

World Cup playoffs live scores

UEFA semifinals: Thursday, March 26

Turkey vs. Romania

Czechia vs. Republic of Ireland

Denmark vs. North Macedonia

Italy vs. Northern Ireland

Poland vs. Albania

Slovakia vs. Kosovo

Ukraine vs. Sweden

Wales vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina

FIFA intercontinental semifinals: Thursday, March 26

Bolivia vs. Suriname

New Caledonia vs. Jamaica

MORE WORLD CUP NEWS:

World Cup qualifying live updates, results, highlights from today's matches

All times ET.

4:33 p.m.: GOAL FOR SLOVAKIA! THE HOSTS HAVE THE LEAD AGAIN JUST BEFORE HALFTIME! In the final minute of the first half, Lukas Haraslin fires a free kick into the penalty area, definitely trying to find a teammate to latch onto it, but the ball sneaks through everyone and finds the back of the net! What an embarrassing goal for Kosovo to concede! The goalkeeper never saw it, and they'll head into the halftime break trailing by a goal!

4:30 p.m.: GOAL FOR ALBANIA! POLAND TRAIL! Albania go long and force a defensive mistake one-on-two, and Arber Hoxha rips a shot from a tight angle on the right for the opener! It's 1-0 to the visitors in Warsaw!

4:13 p.m.: GOAL FOR CZECHIA! WOW! What a start in Prague! Patrik Schick converts a penalty to give the hosts life and restore the one-goal deficit! It comes as Ryan Manning fouls Ladislav Krejci in the area!

4:10 p.m.: GOAL FOR IRELAND! Oh dear, an own goal by Matej Kovar puts the visitors 2-0 up over Czechia! Could we have an upset on our hands in Prague?

4:08 p.m.: GOAL FOR KOSOVO! FIFA'S 79TH-RANKED SIDE IS LEVEL! Veldin Hodza with a wonderful finish from outside the penalty area! That's a lovely goal!

4:05 p.m.: GOAL FOR IRELAND! TROY PARROT FROM THE PENALTY SPOT! They're up on Czechia 1-0 on the road in Prague! The chance comes off a VAR review with Vladimir Darida committing a foul!

3:53 p.m.: GOAL FOR SLOVAKIA! Martin Valjent puts the hosts up on Kosovo early on as he heads in from a corner!

3:53 p.m.: GOAL FOR SWEDEN! VIKTOR GYOKERES HAS PUT THE SWEDES UP ON UKRAINE! It's a tap-in for the Arsenal man on a feed from Benjamin Nygren!

3:45 p.m.: The remaining UEFA games are off and running! Who will join Turkey in the finals?

2:50 p.m.:TURKEY WIN! Kadioglu's second-half goal is enough for a 1-0 win over Romania. Turkey go through to face either Slovakia or Kosovo in next Tuesday's playoff final. Romania's dreams of qualifying for the World Cup are over.

2:11 p.m.: GOAL FOR TURKEY! Real Madrid's Arda Guler picks out the run of Ferdi Kadioglu, who has time in the box to take a touch before nudging the ball beyond goalkeeper Ionut Radu. Turkey take a step towards their playoff final.

1:46 p.m.: At halftime, it's 0-0 between Turkey and Romania. The home side seemed to grow nervous as the half wore on, having failed to break down their opponents. This one is finely poised.

1:19 p.m.: It's goalless after 17 minutes of the first of today's semis. Calhanoglu has just sent a promising free-kick high and wide.

12:31 p.m.: Romania coach Mircea Lucescu, now 80, has been battling ill health in the build-up to this game, but he told The Guardian: "When the doctors told me I could go on coaching, I focused on what I had to do for Romania. I spoke to the federation and they told me they couldn't find a solution to the situation. I'm not in my best shape, so I would have stepped away if there was another option available. But I insist: I can't leave like a coward. We must believe in our chance to qualify."

12 p.m.:Turkey's starting XI includes the formidable attacking talents of Arda Guler, Kenan Yildiz and Hakan Calhanoglu. When you see some of the quality in their side, it makes you wonder how they've only qualified for one World Cup since 1954.

11:15 a.m.: It's World Cup playoff semifinal day! The likes of Italy, Wales, Sweden, Bolivia and Jamaica are all hoping to keep their dreams alive of playing at this summer's finals.

First up will be Turkey vs. Romania, which kicks off in Istanbul in just under two hours' time.

Who has qualified for the 2026 World Cup?

Forty-two of the 48 teams in the 2026 World Cup were drawn in December, with the remaining six spots to be filled by the UEFA and intercontinental playoff winners.

Here is the full list of countries to qualify for the World Cup so far:

NationConfederationLast World Cup appearanceUnited States (host)CONCACAF2022Mexico (host)CONCACAF2022Canada (host)CONCACAF2022PanamaCONCACAF2018HaitiCONCACAF1974CuracaoCONCACAFNone (First appearance)JapanAFC2022IranAFC2022UzbekistanAFCNone (First appearance)AustraliaAFC2022South KoreaAFC2022JordanAFCNone (First appearance)Saudi ArabiaAFC2022QatarAFC2022MoroccoCAF2022TunisiaCAF2022EgyptCAF2018AlgeriaCAF2014GhanaCAF2022Cape VerdeCAFNone (First appearance)South AfricaCAF2010SenegalCAF2022Ivory CoastCAF2014ArgentinaCONMEBOL2022EcuadorCONMEBOL2022BrazilCONMEBOL2022ColombiaCONMEBOL2018UruguayCONMEBOL2022ParaguayCONMEBOL2010New ZealandOFC2010EnglandUEFA2022FranceUEFA2022CroatiaUEFA2022PortugalUEFA2022NorwayUEFA1998GermanyUEFA2022NetherlandsUEFA2022SpainUEFA2022BelgiumUEFA2022SwitzerlandUEFA2022AustriaUEFA1998ScotlandUEFA1998_UEFA (playoffs)_UEFA (playoffs)_UEFA (playoffs)_UEFA (playoffs) Intercontinental playoff winner 1_Intercontinental playoff winner 1_

How do the World Cup playoffs work?

UEFA playoffs

Twelve of UEFA's 16 spots were taken by the group winners from the initial format of four or five-team groups. The 12 runners-up, along with the four best UEFA Nations League group winners that finished outside of the top two in their World Cup qualifying groups, enter the playoffs.

Those 16 teams were drawn into four paths with two single-game rounds. The seeded teams will be at home in the semifinals, with a home nation for the four finals drawn in advance. The winners from each path advance to the World Cup. UEFA is the only confederation without a representative in the inter-continental playoff.

The full draw and brackets for the UEFA playoffs are detailed here.

Intercontinental playoffs

The two teams in the six-nation playoff with the highest FIFA ranking are seeded. The four unseeded teams play an effective semifinal, with the two winners progressing to face a seed apiece to decide the final two places at the World Cup.

The four-game playoff will be used as a World Cup test event and played in two venues in Mexico, with some games at Estadio Akron in Guadalajara and others at Estadio BBVA in Monterrey.

World Cup qualifying pathways

The UEFA playoff paths, like their intercontinental counterparts, were placed into Pot 4 for the group-stage draw because the individual qualifiers were not known at the time. That meant a potentially more difficult group stage for the teams that progress.

The pathways were drawn as follows:

  • UEFA Playoff A winner: Group B (Canada, Qatar, Switzerland)
  • UEFA Playoff B winner: Group F (Netherlands, Japan, Tunisia)
  • UEFA Playoff C winner: Group D (USA, Paraguay, Australia)
  • UEFA Playoff D winner: Group A (Mexico, South Africa, South Korea)

Meanwhile, the intercontinental playoff winners will be drawn into Group K and Group I:

  • FIFA Playoff 1 winner: Group K (Portugal, Uzbekistan, Colombia)
  • FIFA Playoff 2 winner: Group I (France, Senegal and Norway)

WORLD CUP DRAW BREAKDOWNS:

Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D | Group E | Group F
Group G | Group H | Group I | Group J | Group K | Group L

World Cup playoffs schedule 2026

European playoffs

Pathway A

Semifinal

DateTime (ET)MatchLocationMarch 26, 20262:45 p.m.Italy vs. Northern IrelandNew Balance Arena (Bergamo, Italy)March 26, 20262:45 p.m.Wales vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina Cardiff City Stadium (Cardiff, Wales)

Final

DateTime (ET)MatchLocationMarch 31, 20262:45 p.m.Winner SF 2 vs. Winner SF 1TBD (Wales/Bosnia & Herzegovina winner host)

Pathway B

Semifinal

DateTime (ET)MatchLocationMarch 26, 20262:45 p.m.Ukraine vs. SwedenEstadi Ciutat de Valencia (Valencia, Spain)March 26, 20262:45 p.m.Poland vs. AlbaniaPGE Narodowy (Warsaw, Poland)

Final

DateTime (ET)MatchLocationMarch 31, 20262:45 p.m.Winner SF 3 vs. Winner SF 4TBD (Ukraine/Sweden winner host)

Pathway C

Semifinal

DateTime (ET)MatchLocationMarch 26, 202612 p.m.Turkey vs. RomaniaBesiktas Stadyumu (Istanbul, Turkey)March 26, 20262:45 p.m.Slovakia vs. Kosovo Tehelne pole (Bratislava, Slovakia)

Final

DateTime (ET)MatchLocationMarch 31, 20262:45 p.m.Winner SF6 vs. Winner SF5TBD (Slovakia/Kosovo winner host)

Pathway D

Semifinal

DateTime (ET)MatchLocationMarch 26, 20262:45 p.m.Denmark vs. North MacedoniaParken (Copenhagen, Denmark)March 26, 20262:45 p.m.Czechia vs. Republic of IrelandFortuna Arena (Prague-Vrsovice, Czechia)

Final

DateTime (ET)MatchLocationMarch 31, 20262:45 p.m.Winner SF8 vs. Winner SF7TBD (Czechia/Rep. of Ireland winner host)

Intercontinental playoffs

Pathway 1

Semifinal

DateTime (ET)MatchLocationMarch 267 p.m.New Caledonia vs. JamaicaEstadio Akron (Guadalajara)

Final

DateTime (ET)MatchLocationMarch 312 p.m.DR Congo vs. Semifinal winnerEstadio Akron (Guadalajara)

Pathway 2

Semifinal

DateTime (ET)MatchLocationMarch 261 p.m.Bolivia vs. SurinameEstadio BBVA (Monterrey)

Final

DateTime (ET)MatchLocationMarch 318 p.m.Iraq vs. Semifinal winnerEstadio BBVA (Monterrey)

SN's Kyle Bonn contributed to this article

Read full story at source