Netherlands will face Turkey & Bulgaria or Poland & Finland in 2026 World Cup qualifiers

The draw for the qualification groups for the 2026 World Cup was announced on Friday. If Oranje beats Spain in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Nations League, they will face Turkey, Georgia, and Bulgaria in their qualifying group. If they lose in the two games vs Spain they will play against Poland, Finland, Lithuania, and Malta.

The World Cup will be held in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. It is the first-ever World Cup to have 48 teams in it. The last World Cup in 2022 had 32 participating teams.

Dutch national team manager Ronald Koeman was present at the draw, which took place at the World Football Federation's (FIFA) headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. The matches against Spain will take place on March 23. He will not know which teams his team will have to beat to qualify until after this because six of the 12 groups in the European qualifying schedule for the 2026 World Cup finals consist of five countries, while the other six groups have four teams.

The semi-finalists of the UEFA Nations League play in groups with four countries because they are only able to start qualification in September next year. They will compete in the Nations League in June.

Oranje was in pot 1, which is where the most highly rated European countries were. This meant that the Dutch national team could not be drawn against France, Spain, England, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland, Denmark, and Austria.

The 12 group winners will go straight through to the World Cup. Four more European teams will be allowed to win their way into the tournament.

This will be determined in a competition between those finishing second in their groups and the best teams in the Nations League which have not yet qualified for the World Cup. The schedule of matches for the qualification round will be announced at a later date.

The 2026 World Cup tournament will begin on June 11 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. Co-host Mexico will take on one of their Group A opponents. The tournament concludes on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.