2026 World Cup Qualifiers

K

keith margam

Vital Football Legend
2026 FIFA World Cup Qualification

There are twelve UEFA groups.

UEFA Group J consists of Belgium, Kazakhstan, Lichtenstein, North Macedonia and Wales. It’s a round robin format, playing March to November. Group winner qualifies, runners up advance to play-offs to qualify.

Four Swans and five ex-Swans selected for the start of the World Cup qualifying matches for Wales in this two week International break, where there are two matches:

Wales v Kazakhstan Sat 22 March 19:45

North Macedonia v Wales Tue 25 March 19:45


Wales squad:

Joe Allen (Swans)

Kai Andrews (Motherwell)

Nathan Broadhead (Ipswich)

David Brooks (Bournemouth)

Ben Cabango (Swans)

Ollie Cooper (Swans)

Liam Cullen (Swans)

Karl Darlow (Leeds)

Jay Dasilva (Coventry)

Adam Davies (Sheff Utd)

Ben Davies (Spurs)

Mark Harris (Oxford)

Jordan James (Stade Rennais)

Dan James (Leeds)

Brennan Johnson(Spurs)

Lewis Koumas (Stoke City)

Tom Lawrence (Rangers)

Rabbi Matondo (Hannover 96)

Chris Mepham (Sunderland)

Kieffer Moore (Sheff Utd)

Connor Roberts (Burnley)

Joe Rodon (Leeds)

Josh Sheehan (Bolton)

Sorba Thomas (Nantes),

Danny Ward (Leicester)

Neco Williams (Nottm Forest)


Three players are unavailable:

Ethan Ampadu (Leeds)- knee injury, Harry Wilson (Fulham)- foot fracture and Rhys Norrington-Davies (Nottm Forest)- hamstring
 
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England host Wales in a friendly match at Wembley just four days before Wales play Group J favourites Belgium in a World Cup qualifier -

England v Wales Thur 9 Oct 19:45

They also have another friendly planned before that -

Wales v Canada Tue 9 Sept 19:45,

Both matches are live on BBC One Wales, BBC Three, S4C, BBC iPlayer, S4C Online and BBC Sport Website.
 
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All Wales qualifying matches will be shown live on BBC One Wales, BBC Three, S4C, BBC iPlayer, S4C Online and BBC Sport Website.
 
The dates of the rest of the qualifying matches this year:

Wales v Lichtenstein Fri 6 June 19:45

Belgium v Wales Tue 9 June 19:45

Kazakhstan v Wales Thur 4 Sep 15:00

Wales v Belgium Mon 13 Oct 19:45

Lichtenstein v Wales Sat 15 Nov 17:00

Wales v North Macedonia Tue 18 Nov 19:45
 
Wales 3 (James 9’, Davies 47’, Matondo 90’) - Kazakhstan 1 (Tagybergen 32’)

There was a sizeable crowd at the CCS of over 32k to watch the start of our World Cup Qualifying campaign.

They weren’t disappointed, with in-form Dan James scoring after nine minutes following a corner, with a deflected shot.

Kazakhstan unexpectedly equalised on 32 minutes, a cross from Chesnokov hits Robert’s arm as he’s turning away and the ref blows for a penalty, a bit unlucky I thought, but was confirmed by VAR. Tagybergen shoots straight down the middle, Darlow dives to his left, his boot blocks the shot but the ball creeps over the line. Low ranked Kazakhstan not the easy touch that many thought and playing above themselves on the night to frustrate Wales.

Wales took the lead two minutes into the second-half though after a quick start, Davies with a thumping header at the far post from Thomas’s corner to restore the lead.

Despite a few half-chances and an inspired showing from goalkeeper Zarutskiy it wasn’t until the 90th minute that we scored again, the two subs making the scoreline look decent. A lovely diagonal cross to Thomas from Jordan James, Thomas beat Alip to cut the ball back to Matondo who sweeps the ball home.

A tough match for Wales and a tougher one to come on Tuesday night in Skopje against North Macedonia who beat Lichtenstein away 3-0.
 
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North Macedonia v Wales,

Skopje -Todor Proeski Arena, 19:45, Tue 25 March 2025

The arena is home to Skopje's football teams FK Vardar and FK Rabotnicki, who both compete in the Macedonian First League.

There are eleven countries in Southeast Europe that are generally considered to be Balkan. They are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia.

Some Balkan countries such as Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Macedonia were once part of Yugoslavia.

Approximately 2.1 million people live in the landlocked Republic of North Macedonia. About 58% are Macedonian and 24% Albanian. A third of their population are Muslims (in comparison Wales 2.2% - UK 6% with 1.3 million in London).

The official language is Macedonian, a South Slavic language closely related to Bulgarian. Like most other Balkan states, Macedonia is a parliamentary representative democratic republic. The capital city is Skopje.

North Macedonia are 67th in the FIFA World rankings, Wales are 29th.
 
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North Macedonia 1 (Miovski 91’) - Wales 1 (Brooks 96’)
What a dramatic ending!
Craig Bellamy maintained his unbeaten run, but only just.
A crazy back-pass from sub Allen when there was no need, let in Miovski in the 91’ to score against the run of play and game over or so we thought. This Wales team never gives up under Bellamy though and in the 96’ Moore heads the ball down to Brooks who fires home the equaliser. Hardly time to restart before the whistle goes for the end of the match, what a finale.
We had dominated possession and had plenty of chances, but solid defending from Macedonia kept us out. Macedonia were dangerous on the break but Rodon, Mepham, Davies and Williams were letting nothing past them, especially Rodon who must have won everything in the air.
 
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