England draw Serbia, Albania, Latvia and Andorra in 2026 World Cup qualifying

Thomas Tuchel’s England have been drawn against Serbia, Albania, Latvia and Andorra in qualification for the 2026 World Cup.

The German officially takes over as head coach on January 1 and will take heart from the fact England have never lost to any of the teams they will face on the road to the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Scotland are in a four-team group, and will face whichever team loses the Nations League quarter-final tie between Portugal and Denmark, along with Greece and Belarus.

Steve Clarke’s men also face Greece in a Nations League promotion-relegation play-off in March.

Wales are in a group featuring Belgium, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan and Liechtenstein as they aim to qualify for a second successive World Cup.

Wales met Belgium in qualifying for the last World Cup, and even more recently in the 2022 Nations League.

They famously beat Belgium 3-1 to reach the semi-finals of Euro 2016, but have not won any of the subsequent four meetings.

The Republic of Ireland have been drawn against the winner of the Portugal v Denmark Nations League tie, along with Hungary and Romania.

Like Scotland, the Republic face a Nations League promotion-relegation play-off tie in March, in their case against Bulgaria.

Northern Ireland will face either Germany or Italy – each four-time World Cup winners – plus Slovakia and Luxembourg as they seek a first qualification since 1986.

England have only met Serbia once in their history as a single nation – at this year’s Euros where a Jude Bellingham goal proved decisive in a group stage encounter.

England have won all six previous meetings with Albania – all World Cup qualifiers – and they last came across each other in qualifying for the last finals in Qatar. Gareth Southgate’s men beat Albania 5-0 at Wembley in November 2021.

Latvia will be new opponents at senior level for England, while Andorra were also in England’s group for qualifying for Qatar. England won the home encounter 4-0 and a 5-0 victory in the return.

Qualifying will begin in March for the five-team groups, with four-team groups getting under way in September.

Sixteen European nations will qualify for the finals, which will feature 48 teams for the first time.

The winners of each group qualify automatically, with the runners-up then going into play-offs in March 2026 alongside the four best-ranked Nations League group winners who did not either win their World Cup qualifying group or finish runner-up.

Those play-offs will determine the final four qualifiers from Europe.