Italy’s two potential World Cup play-off final opponents revealed

Italy will play against Northern Ireland in the World Cup play-off final, and have learned that they will take on either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina in the play-off final should they qualify. 

The draw for the 2026 World Cup play-offs took place on Thursday afternoon. 

You can see how the draw unfolded on the Football Italia Liveblog.

The Azzurri finished second in qualification Group I with 18 points from eight matches, made up of six wins and two defeats. This was not enough to secure direct qualification for the final tournament, which was instead won by Norway. 

Having finished second, Italy were sentenced to a third consecutive World Cup play-off campaign. They were among the top seeds in the draw, which meant that they had to come up against one of the fourth seeds: I.e. Sweden, Romania, North Macedonia or Northern Ireland. 

Italy have been drawn against Northern Ireland in the play-off semi-finals. This will be a one-legged match, which will take place in Italy on March 26. 

The winner of that tie will progress to the play-off finals, and will take on the winner of Wales vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina. If Italy qualify, they will play away in the final.