Turkey’s national football team, if it reaches the knockout stage and participates in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, will play in Group D with the USA, Paraguay and Australia.
The draw for the groups of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be held in the USA, Canada and Mexico, took place in the US capital Washington.
In a ceremony attended by US President Donald Trump, the Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and FIFA President Gianni Infantino, as well as Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, who performed at the beginning of the ceremony, were attended by the President of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) Ibrahim Hadzhiosmanoglu, TFF Vice President Zehra Neshe Kavak, General Secretary Abdullah Ayaz, Senior Coach of the Turkish National Team Vincenzo Montella, Administrative Director for External Relations and National Teams Bugra Imamoglu, as well as the administrative director of the national team and the under-21 team, Mert Tuncay.
If they participate in the World Cup, the Turkish team will compete in Group D with the USA, Paraguay and Australia.
For the first time in history, 48 countries will take part in the World Cup, and at the moment 42 countries have already secured a ticket to the tournament. The last 6 countries to qualify for the tournament will be determined by the European qualifiers (4 countries) and the Intercontinental Play-offs (2 countries).
Turkey, which will compete in the playoffs, will meet Romania in the semi-finals. In the stage, which will be held according to the “one match” system, the Turkish national team, if it beats Romania, which will host it, will meet in the final with the winner of the Slovakia-Kosovo match on the road. The Turkish national team will try to achieve success in the playoffs in order to participate in the World Cup for the third time in its history.
The semi-final matches of the playoffs will take place on March 26, 2026, and the final matches will take place on March 31, 2026.
The World Cup groups were formed as follows:
Group “A”: Mexico, South Africa, Korea, winner of path D (Denmark/North Macedonia/Czech Republic/Ireland)
Group “B”: Canada, winner of route A (Italy/Northern Ireland/Wales/Bosnia and Herzegovina), Qatar, Switzerland
Group “C”: Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland
Group “D”: USA, Paraguay, Australia, winner of route C (Turkey/Romania/Slovakia/Kosovo)
Group “E”: Germany, Curacao, Cote d’Ivoire, Ecuador
Group “F”: Netherlands, Japan, winner of path B (Ukraine/Sweden/Poland/Albania), Tunisia
Group “G”: Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand
Group H: Spain, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay
Group I: France, Senegal, route 2 winner (Bolivia/Suriname/Iraq), Norway
Group J: Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan
Group K: Portugal, route winner 1 (New Caledonia/Jamaica/DR Congo), Uzbekistan, Colombia
Group “L”: England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama