+ The location
Sweden is the last team in the World Cup qualifying group with Switzerland away (Saturday) and Slovenia at home (Tuesday) still to face. Everything indicates that the men's national team must rely on reaching a World Cup playoff thanks to the so-called Nations League lifeline.
+ This is required to get the lifeline
Norway, England, Portugal and Spain have already secured at worst second place in their World Cup qualifying groups. If two more higher-ranked Nations League group winners from autumn 2024 manage to do the same, Sweden – ranked as the tenth best NL winner – will have a lifeline in their hands.
+ Can be finished on Friday
France can secure a World Cup ticket in Thursday's round in Group D at home against Ukraine. Germany cannot qualify for the World Cup in the penultimate round, but can secure at worst a second place in Group A away against Luxembourg on Friday.
The Czech Republic does not play on Friday, but if group leader Croatia wins at home against third-place Faroe Islands, the Czechs have secured second place ahead of the final match on Monday.
Wales and Romania remain in the fight for second place in their respective groups, but have worse starting positions.
+ Worse draw in playoff
All national teams that secure a playoff spot via the Nations League will be drawn in the fourth and worst draw pot. The semi-final opponents will be drawn from pot 1, which consists of the four World Cup qualifiers with the best world rankings.
+ Can be played against Italy
World number one Italy looks set to make the playoffs. If Norway wins at home against Estonia on Thursday, the Norwegians will have effectively secured first place ahead of Italy in Group I.
Sweden looks set to miss out on other top nations such as Germany (10th in the ranking), the Netherlands (6th), Belgium (8th) and Croatia (11th) – the quartet has a good starting position to take a direct place.
Denmark (20) may be forced to qualify and if that is the case, the Danes will end up in seeding pot 1. The neighboring country is fighting with Scotland (38) for first place in Group C.
Turkey (26) will likely finish second in Group E and will then end up in draw pot 1. Ukraine (27) could also be found there – the Ukrainians are currently second in Group C behind France. Poland (33) is still in the fight for first place, but above all has a good starting position to take second place behind the current leader Netherlands in Group G.
Four World Cup places are up for grabs in the playoff. The draw will take place on November 20.
In the European World Cup play-offs, the 16 participating teams are drawn into four groups, where the semi-finals and finals will be played. Both matches will be decided in single matches and will be played at the end of March.
The four final winners are ready for the World Cup next summer.
The playoff will feature twelve national teams that finished second in their World Cup qualifying groups and four nations that have secured a place through group victory in the 2024 Nations League (NL).
The four NL winners are automatically placed in the fourth and worst draw pot. The other twelve teams are placed in pots 1, 2 or 3 based on the world ranking after the completion of the World Cup qualifiers.
For the semi-finals, teams from pot 1 are drawn against teams from pot 4 – teams from pots 2 and 3 are drawn against each other. The highest ranked team will play at home.
If Sweden is in the playoffs via the NL lifeline and wins the semifinals, a final awaits against the winner of one of the semifinals with teams from pot 2 and pot 3.
The semi-final winner who gets to play at home in the final will be drawn in advance.
The draw will take place on November 20th.
Source: UEFA.
