The results from the final day of the group stage of qualification mean that Slovakia will be in the second pot in Thursday's draw for the play-offs for promotion to the 2026 World Cup and will have home-field advantage in its first round.
Coach Francesco Calzona's team could be drawn from the quartet of Ireland, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. The distribution of the four play-off pots was confirmed by the Football Meets Data profile on the X network. In addition to Scotland and Austria, Switzerland, Spain and Belgium also secured their place in the World Cup on Tuesday.
The outcome of Group B was more or less clear before Tuesday's matches, as the Kosovars would need to win by at least six goals to overtake the Swiss. In Pristina, the visitors' Ruben Vargas opened the scoring early in the second half, while Florent Muslija equalized for the home team a quarter of an hour before the end of regular time.
The fate of Tuesday's match with Slovenia did not have to worry the Swedes, who, despite finishing last, were certain to qualify for the play-offs based on their results in the 2024/2025 Nations League. They eventually ended the group stage of the qualification with a 1-1 draw.
The situation in Group C was less clear, where Denmark and Scotland competed for direct qualification. The British Isles players were delighted with their victory in Glasgow and the group. Scott McTominay put them in the lead right from the start.
In the 57th minute, a converted penalty by Rasmus Höjlund gave the Danes hope, but shortly after that, Danish defender Rasmus Kristensen was sent off. Lawrence Shankland took advantage of the numerical advantage in the 78th minute, but Patrick Dorgu equalized for the guests. Finally, Tierney sent the home team to the championship in the third minute of injury time, and Kenny McLean added a second. The Belarusians closed the qualification with a goalless draw with Greece.
Despite their first loss of points, European champions Spain dominated Group E. They also conceded for the first time, winning over Turkey in Seville after Dani Olmo's 4th-minute strike, but Deniz Gül equalized with his first international goal before going to the locker room.
In the 54th minute, Salih Özcan gave the Turks the lead, but less than ten minutes later, Mikel Oyarzabal equalized. Turkey needed to win by seven or more goals to advance directly. Georgia and Bulgaria could no longer finish in the top two positions, and the Bulgarians enjoyed at least a symbolic 2-1 triumph in the end.
In the"hook" the Austrians drew with Bosnia and Herzegovina 1:1 and won the group with 19 points. For a long time, however, it looked like a direct advance for the Bosnians, who led almost the entire duel after a goal by Haris Tabakovic. The crucial draw was arranged in the 78th minute by Michael Gregoritsch. The Romanians triumphed over San Marino 7:1 and finished third. Like the Swedes, however, they could look forward to participating in the play-offs based on the LN.
In Group J, the Belgians could forget about Friday's stumble in Kazakhstan (1:1), as they defeated last-place Liechtenstein 7:0. Jeremy Doku and Charles De Ketelaere scored two goals, while Hans Vanaken, Brandon Mechele and Alexis Saelemaekers each added one goal.
Belgium won the group with 18 points ahead of Wales, who defeated North Macedonia 7-1 in the match for second place. Harry Wilson scored a hat-trick. Despite finishing third, the Balkans completed the four qualifying for the play-offs thanks to LN. In this way, they secured their place in the March matches against Northern Ireland from the"Slovak" A-group.
