Scotland‘s hopes of reaching the knockout rounds of a major international tournament were once again squandered last night in heartbreaking fashion after a 100th minute winner saw them slump out of Euro 2024 at the hands of Hungary.
Despite holding 58% of possession and arguably being denied a penalty while the scores were still level, a toothless Scottish side mustered only four shots in the entirety of the must-win fixture, with none of those forcing Péter Gulácsi into a save.
The wait therefore continues for hopeful fans, who will be quick to move on to the upcoming 2026 World Cup, but when does the qualification campaign begin?
Scotland fell at the first hurdle in Germany this summer (Image credit: Getty Images)
When does World Cup 2026 qualifying begin?
The European section of World Cup qualifying has been modified in the past 18 months after UEFA’s qualification spots were bumped from 13 to 16 in line with the increased number of participants in the 2026 edition of the tournament.
This has led to a slight change of format to qualifying, with teams now drawn into groups of four or five, with the winners of each group qualifying for the tournament automatically.
The 12 runners up, as well as the four best Nations League group winners, based on the Nations League overall ranking, that finished outside the top two of their qualifying group, will be forced into tournament-style play off, with four of the sixteen teams being granted qualification.
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For sides drawn into groups of five, the qualification campaign will begin in late March 2025, with the first two match days held just a few days apart.
The groups of five will in fact have already played four group games before the groups of four begin their fixtures, with all groups aligning for the remaining six games from early September 2025 and onwards.
The play-off semi finals and finals will be held on the 26th and 31st of March 2026 respectively, with the main tournament set to begin in June of that year.
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