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World Cup 2026 playoffs: Sweden v Poland, Czech Republic v Denmark, Kosovo v Turkey – live | World Cup 2026 qualifiers
Key events
Sweden 0-0 Poland: Denmark have the ball in the box but Lewandowski cannot get a good strike on the ball after an awkward tackle from Starfelt, who has hurt himself in the process.
Kári gets in touch:
It was only one match, but on Thursday it really felt like Sweden are back to being Sweden again under Potter. At their best, they combine imagination and flair with the kind of solid ruggedness that saps the will of their opponents. Sportswriter Charles Boehm once called Sweden “the walking manifestation of that sinking feeling that it’s not going to be your day”, which can’t be improved on.
I could never quite measure up to Boehm – quite the wordsmith – if we are being frank. Maybe he would compare me to Sweden right now, who have not offered much but are trying their best in front of their home crowd.
Kosovo 0-0 Turkey: The visitors are a whisker away from opening the scoring but two good blocks are made after Calhanoglu’s shot. Turkey have to settle for a corner but Kosovo deal with the danger.
Czech Republic 1-0 Denmark: So far, this is the game to watch. Hojlund blazes forward and has a go from a tight angle on the left but Kovar makes the low save.
GOAL! Czech Republic 1-0 Denmark (Sulc 3)
The hosts light a fuse in Prague!! The hosts win their second corner in the third minute. Coufal delivers and it is cleared to Sulc, who isn’t picked up at the edge of the box. He takes his chance to strike it beautifully first time and it sails into the top corner! Dream start for Czech Republic!
Kick-offs: Here we go! Winners of each of these games will book their spot at the 2026 World Cup in Canada, the United States and Mexico.
The teams are out and the national anthems are being sung … Kick-off in less than five minutes across the grounds. Great atmospheres across the board in Pristina, Solna and Prague.
Bosnia and Herzegovina v Italy: Reminder, you can follow along the fourth European playoff final with Scott Murray below.
Kosovo v Turkey: The hosts nation only became Fifa members in 2016 and a win today would secure their first-ever World Cup finals place and complete a qualification campaign that has become a rallying cry for national pride.
“It gets emotional thinking about the conditions we faced,” Samir Ujkani says. Kosovo would often train on a rutted pitch at the crumbling Kek stadium outside Pristina, directly beneath the belching Obiliq power plants that have been listed among the most polluting in Europe. On other occasions they would make a three-hour round trip to Mitrovica, where the Haiti game took place, for a single session. “We didn’t care, we did it all and nobody complained. And I’m so proud of what the team are achieving now.”
This is a country where public matches were banned by Serbian authorities in the 1990s after the breakup of Yugoslavia. It is a place where football became the most luxurious of afterthoughts as a brutal, appalling war wrought unimaginable trauma at the end of that decade. When Kosovo rose and stood alone, sport became more important than ever in its capacity to project a fresh, serious, accomplished face to the world.
Read the full features from Nick Ames and Jack Snape below.
Kosovo v Turkey: Dreaming of a World Cup debut, Kosovo showed great nerve to beat Slovakia 4-3 in their play-off semi-final – twice levelling before taking a 4-2 lead. They will no doubt take great confidence from the victory, but coach Franco Foda warns that they must not get carried away. “We are in euphoria right now but we need to play the last game with calm,” he said.
Arda Güler’s awe-inspiring assist and Ferdi Kadioglu’s expert finish were the difference as Turkey overcame Romania in the semi-finals. Turkey have lost only once in seven competitive away fixtures since Euro 2024, continuing to score on the road despite not having a pure No 9.
Czech Republic v Denmark: “It’s been 20 years since our last World Cup appearance, and we’ll do everything we can to get there,” said the Czech Republic midfielder Tomáš Souček after his side’s penalty success against the Republic of Ireland. However, the Czech Republic have not beaten the Danes in seven games since a 3-0 win in the quarter-finals of Euro 2004.
Brian Riemer’s Denmark booked their final spot with a confident 4-0 victory over North Macedonia. “It is important to look forward to big matches, even though there is also a lot of pressure,” Riemer said. “It is a huge match, and it is probably one of the biggest matches I have been involved with in my career so far. We are completely well prepared and ready.”
Sweden v Poland: “Viktor Gyökeres was incredible,” said the Sweden manager, Graham Potter, after the Arsenal striker scored a hat-trick in his side’s 3-1 semi-final against Ukraine. He will certainly be the one to watch for Poland as they hope to register a win in Sweden for the first time since 1930.
These two teams met in the final of the 2022 World Cup playoffs, where Poland beat the Swedes 2-0 in Chorzow with goals from Robert Lewandowski and Piotr Zielinski – both are in Poland’s XI for today’s match. Nicola Zalewski returns after being suspended for the semi-final and Jan Urban is unbeaten after seven games as Poland coach.
Teams: Kosovo v Turkey
Kosovi XI (4-4-2): Muric; Dellova, Hajrizi, Hajdari, Gallapeni; Vojvoda, Hodza, Rexhbecaj, Muslija; Asllani, Muriqi.
Subs: Bekaj, Saipi, Hadergjonaj, Aliti, I Krasniqi, Rashica, Rrahmani, Zhegrova, Berisha, E Krasniqi, Emerllahu, Zabergja.
Turkey XI (4-2-3-1): Cakir; Celik, Kadioglu, Bardakci, Kabak; Yuksek, Calhanoglu; Kokcu, Guler, Yildiz; Akturkoglu.
Subs: Günok, Bayindir, Elmali, Akaydin, Ozcan, Yılmaz, Gul, Kahveci, Muldur, Karazor, Akgun, Ayhan.
Referee: Michael Oliver (England)
Teams: Sweden v Poland
Sweden XI (3-4-2-1): Nordfeldt; Lagerbielke, Starfelt, Lindelof; Svensson, Ayari, Karlstrom, Gudmundsson; Elanga, Nygren; Gyokeres.
Subs: Törnqvist, Ellborg, Eriksson, Swedberg, Bergvall, Nilsson, Stroud, Lundgren, Svanberg, Larsson, Ali, Zeneli.
Poland XI (3-5-2): Grabara; Bednarek, Wisniewski, Kiwior; Cash, Zalawski, Zielinski, Szymanski, Kaminski; Swiderski, Lewandowski.
Subs: Kochalski, Dragowski, Kedziora, Slisz, Moder, Grosicki, Pietuszewski, Ziolkowski, Rozga, Bereszynski, Skoras, Piatek.
Referee: Slavko Vincic (Slovenia)
Teams: Czech Republic v Denmark
Czech Republic XI (3-5-2): Kovar; Chaloupek, Hranac, Krejci; Coufal, Provod, Soucek, Darida, Zeleny; Schick, Sulc.
Subs: Hornicek, Jedlicka, Holes, Vitik, Karabec, Kliment, Cerv, Chytil, Jurasek, Sadilek, Chory, Visinsky.
Denmark XI (4-3-3): Hermansen; Bah, Andersen, Nelsson, Maehle; Hojbjrg, Hjulmand, Froholdt; Isaksen, Hojlund, Damsgaard.
Subs: Jungdal, Ronnow, Hogsberg, Nartey, Jensen, Eriksen, Osula, Provstgaard, Nørgaard, Hogh, Nartey, Dreyer.
Referee: Maurizio Mariani (Italy)
Preamble
Hello and welcome to a crucial World Cup qualification day. Eight European countries, four spots up for grabs at this summer’s marquee event in Canada, the United States and Mexico, with Bosnia-Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Kosovo, Poland, Sweden and Turkey all one win away from qualifying.
The Czech Republic, who edged out the Republic of Ireland on penalties take on Denmark. The winner will join Group A alongside Mexico, South Africa and South Korea.
Turkey will take on minnows Kosovo, who have never qualified for a World Cup. The winners will join Group D with the United States, Paraguay and Australia.
Sweden, who are through after Viktor Gyökeres’ hat-trick against Ukraine, will face Poland, with the winner slotting into Group F alongside the Netherlands, Japan and Tunisia.
Italy, who are under heaps of pressure after missing the last two World Cups, managed a win against Northern Ireland on Thursday to set up a World Cup playoff final against Bosnia and Herzegovina, who beat Wales on penalties after Edin Dzeko’s lifeline goal. The winner will join Canada, Qatar and Switzerland in Group B at the World Cup. Scott Murray will be live blogging that match separately here.
The four fixtures will kick-off simultaneously at 7.45pm BST.
As always, if you have any thoughts, predictions, questions, or favourite World Cup playoff moments you would like to share, then send me an email. Team news coming up!
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
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Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
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