World Cup 2023 qualifying: Uefa to split major and minor nations

For the 2026 World Cup, some countries played six qualifiers but some played eight. Now all will play six.

Every team in the 12-team group will play six home-or-away matches against six different opponents – two per pot.

It moves qualifying away from the regular format where teams would play all opponents in their group home and away.

The best-ranked teams of each group of League 1 will qualify for the World Cup, with the remaining places allocated via play-offs.

Uefa has not confirmed the breakdown of the automatic slots.

The remaining 18, lower-ranked countries – under the current format, effectively all but the group winners in League C and all seven countries in League D – will take part in League 2.

Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said: “The new formats will improve competitive balance, reduce the number of dead matches, offer a more appealing and dynamic competition to fans, while ensuring a fair qualification chance for all teams and without adding any additional dates in the international calendar.”

Uefa also announced that the Nations League would be restructured from 2028, into three divisions of 18 teams – each with three groups of six teams.

Teams will still play six matches, but against five different opponents.

There will be three pots of six teams.

For example, a team in pot one would play another team from pot one home and away, plus two teams each from pots two and three home or away.

Semi-finals, finals, promotion and relegation will continue.