news broadcasts the draw live on NRK2 from 11.50. You can also watch the broadcast at the top of the article. Today, on the day of the accident, Friday the 13th, Norway’s group opponents in next year’s WC qualification are drawn. There are 16 European teams that will be allowed to participate in the 2026 World Cup, an increase from 13 since the last World Cup. The draw for the championship, which is played in the USA, Canada and Mexico, works like this: The teams are drawn into 12 different groups where six groups consist of five teams and six groups consist of four teams. First place in the groups goes to the WC. Second place goes to a playoff. The biggest excitement lies in which team Norway meets from pot 1 (see graphic above). In this “pot” are the supposedly strongest competitors. The Norwegian national team meets one nation from the best pool. news has asked three football experts what their dream and nightmare opponents are. – Enormous gap Viaplay expert Lars Tjærnås believes that Austria, Switzerland or Denmark are dream destinations. – There is a huge gap between the best and worst scenario. But at the same time we have to believe that the generation we have now can break the barrier against the vast majority, says Viaplay expert Lars Tjærnås. Nightmare draws according to Tjærnås are: Spain, France, England or Germany. Dream draw: Austria, Switzerland or Denmark. – The four “always” progress and have a width in the squad that makes them much less vulnerable to injuries and loss of form than many others, and not least countries like Norway, says Tjærnås about the nightmare draw. – The last team we will meet news’s football writer Thore Haugstad is “terrified” of the reigning European champions. – Spain is the last team we want to face. One of the most convincing EC winners in many decades. They will be favorites for the WC, says Haugstad. DANGEROUS: Spain won the European Championship in 2024 after victory over England in the final. Norway met the Spaniards in the European Championship qualification in 2023, but there were two losses (0-3 and 0-1). Photo: AP In addition to the nations Tjærnås brought forward, Haugstad also points to Croatia and Belgium. – They sound more frightening than they actually are. Belgium are in terrible form and recently lost to Israel. There was some friction there in the EC. Croatia recently lost against Scotland and did not win a single game in the EC, he states. – I would add that in general I would be optimistic about Norway’s chances of beating a team from pot 1. The football writer also believes that even a country like England – despite the EC final – is not impossible to beat. – They struggled to beat teams of Norway’s level in the EC. They have a new coach in Thomas Tuchel and it is not easy to know what to expect. Nightmare draw according to Haugstad is: Spain. Dream draw: Switzerland, Denmark, Austria, Croatia or Belgium. FALLEN GREATNESS: Kevin De Bruyne and Belgium were ranked as the world’s best national team until February 2022, but the arrows only point downwards: Now they are ranked as the world’s 8th best national team. Photo: AP news’s expert Carl-Erik Torp equates the Spanish with France, England and Germany. – The premises are fine, only first place counts. We have the lifeline with the playoffs, so it’s about getting a first-seeded team that Norway can beat. Denmark or Croatia for example, says news’s football expert Carl-Erik Torp. Torp’s nightmare group is the following: Spain (1), Scotland (3), Bulgaria (4) and Moldova (5). Pot in brackets. Torp’s dream and nightmare scenario: Dream group: Denmark Norway Northern Ireland Cyprus San Marino Nightmare group: Spain Norway Scotland Bulgaria Moldova – The most important thing will be to end up in a group where first place is not completely unattainable, says Carl-Erik Torp and points to Spain, England, France and Germany. He nevertheless adds that if Norway draws one of the weaker teams from pot 1, it may be an advantage to draw a strong team from pot 3. This is because it will even out the group and increase Norway’s chances of first place. – Norway should beat everyone from pot 3, but you can be challenged extra by, for example, Scotland and Albania. Start in March or September Fifa states that the groups with five teams will start the WC qualifiers with matches in March 2025, while the groups with four teams will start in September. All the groups have been completed during November 2025, and all 12 group winners go straight to the WC. The 12 runners-up end up in a playoff together with the four best-ranked group winners from the National League who did not end up in first or second place in the regular WC qualifiers. Football World Cup 2026 Photo: AFP Date: 11 June – 19 July 2026 Number of participating countries: 48 Number of matches: 104 (increase from 64 at the last World Cup) The teams will be divided into 12 groups of 4 teams, with the 2 best in each group and the 8 best third places advance to the play-offs. The World Cup is played in 16 cities in Canada, Mexico and the USA: USA (11): Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, SeattleMexico (3): Guadalajara, Mexico City , MonterreyCanada (2): Toronto, Vancouver The final will be played in New York on 19 July 2026. With the group win in the Nations League, Norway has virtually secured a playoff spot if the World Cup qualification itself is a failure. If Norway misses the playoffs, four of these teams must finish outside the top 2 in the WC qualifiers: Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, England. It goes without saying that the chance is extremely minimal, the safety net is breaking for Ståle Solbakken’s men. CAN SMILE: Erling Braut Haaland and Norway have put themselves in a good position before the World Cup qualifiers. Photo: Marius Simensen / BILDBYRÅN When the 16 playoff teams are ready after the WC qualifiers have been completed in November 2025, these 16 teams will be divided into four different groups with four teams in each group. The four teams are first drawn to a semi-final (one match), where the winner of each semi-final meets in a pure final for a WC ticket. Put at the forefront, Norway is therefore only two games away from the World Cup, regardless of how the World Cup qualifiers go. The four playoff winners from each group are rewarded with the last four WC tickets and join the 12 teams that have already qualified via the WC qualifiers. These are the ones Norway can meet in Pot 1: France, Spain, England, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria. Pot 2: Ukraine, Sweden, Turkey, Wales, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Norway. Pot 3: Scotland, Slovenia, Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Bosnia, Israel. Pot 4: Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Belarus, Armenia, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Lithuania. Pot 5: Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, San Marino. Published 13.12.2024, at 06.21
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