The Netherlands on its way to the 2026 World Cup - all about qualifying

The 2026 World Cup is coming! This tournament, taking place in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, will be the biggest ever, with no fewer than 48 participating countries. But what about the Dutch national team ? How does the Netherlands qualify for the 2026 World Cup? In this blog post, we'll explain.

The Format

For the first time, 48 countries will participate in the World Cup. Europe (UEFA) will send 16 of them. The battle for these places has already begun through the World Cup qualifying campaign, which runs from March to November 2025.

Netherlands in Group G

The Netherlands is divided into Group G, together with:

• 🇳🇱 Netherlands

• 🇵🇱 Poland

• 🇫🇮 Finland

• 🇱🇹 Lithuania

• 🇲🇹 Malta

Each team plays each other twice: home and away. The group stage runs from June to November 2025. Led by Virgil van Dijk and Frenkie de Jong, the Netherlands is currently in a good position to qualify.

Direct Qualification

The rules are simple:

• The group winner qualifies directly for the 2026 World Cup.

• The number 2 gets a chance through the play-offs.

For the Dutch national team, that means: simply finishing first = securing a World Cup spot. The Netherlands currently leads the group thanks in part to important goals from the Dutch national team's all-time top scorer, Memphis Depay.

The Play-offs

If the Netherlands finishes second in the group, there are still chances to qualify through the play-offs:

• All the number 2 teams from the qualifying groups advance to the play-offs.

• They are supplemented by four countries from the Nations League.

• There will be three play-off routes of four countries each.

• Each path consists of one semi-final and one final (single matches).

• The winner of each path still qualifies for the World Cup.

For the Netherlands this means: finishing second might be enough, but then they also have to win those knockout matches.

We are 100% behind the Netherlands and hope they qualify for the most beautiful football tournament in the world as soon as possible.

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