World Cup 2026, favorable draw for the tricolors

The draw for the groups in the World Cup preliminaries took place in Zurich. The same story, with complicated rules for establishing groups, often difficult to understand, in the already classic style of those from FIFA. Our national team cannot complain about bad luck after being assigned to Group H, alongside Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus and San Marino. The main opponent is not complaining either. The Austrian press reacted after learning that the national team led by Ralf Rangnick (66 years old) will meet Romania in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. The Austrians consider it to have been a "lucky draw" and called Romania "the toughest opponent in the group". "Austria was lucky in the World Cup qualifiers draw: Romania is the strongest opponent in the group!", noted the journalists from Die Presse.

Coach Mircea Lucescu was much more moderate: "It's not about luck, you have to win the matches to be able to say whether we were lucky or not. It's a balanced group. Austria won the EURO group, ahead of France, and in the Nations League, second, behind Norway. Even though Austria is a smaller country, things are not simple. They have good players, who play in the Bundesliga. It's a group that plays. I will be satisfied if we reach the World Cup. We have a team with good, experienced players, who are very good friends, a competitive group, a strong group. We have to analyze the teams very well. It won't be easy against Bosnia either, who has very strong players. Of course, we have to be optimistic, to prepare the games very well, the players have to be focused on the club teams, to remain starters until the start of the preliminaries. It's a qualification that is being played. A lot of enthusiasm and hope of qualification. I didn't think about who we could fall to. It's the same thing, all the teams are very well prepared. And the teams that seem small are very well prepared".

The groups in these preliminaries are as follows: Group A: Winner of Germany/Italy, Slovakia, Northern Ireland, Luxembourg; Group B: Switzerland, Sweden, Slovenia, Kosovo; Group C: Loser of Portugal/Denmark, Greece, Scotland, Belarus; Group D: Winner of France/Croatia, Ukraine, Iceland, Azerbaijan; Group E Winner of Spain/Netherlands, Turkey, Georgia, Bulgaria; Group F: Winner of Portugal/Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Armenia; Group G: Loser of Spain/Netherlands, Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Malta; Group H: Austria, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, San Marino; Group I: Loser of Germany/Italy, Norway, Israel, Estonia, Moldova; Group J: Belgium. Wales, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein; Group K: England, Serbia, Albania, Latvia, Andorra; Group L: Loser of France/Croatia, Czech Republic, Montenegro, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar.

The 2026 World Cup will be held in the USA, Mexico and Canada.