FIFA held the group draw for the European qualifiers of the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada at its Zurich, Switzerland headquarters today, 13 December.
The new, extended season of the UEFA Nations League made the qualifying draw extremely (and unnecessarily) complicated. Given that four yet-to-be-determined teams will play in the semi-finals of the Nations League in June, they had to be drawn into four-team groups instead of five, so they would only have to play six qualifying games in the autumn. To make way for that, FIFA actually drew the two-team match-ups of the Nations League quarter-finals, with the winner and the loser going into their designated groups, respectively. If this leaves you confused, do not blame yourself, you are certainly not alone…
What is clear and certain, however, is that Hungary awaited the World Cup qualifying draw from the second seeding pot. Hungary have not been ranked that high before qualification since 1987. They have also not made an appearance at the World Cup since 1986, when, coincidentally, the games were also held in Mexico.
In the 2026 qualification stage, Hungary were drawn in Group F of the European leg, along with Armenia, Ireland, and the winner of the Portugal–Denmark Nations League quarter-final. Since it is a four-team group, Hungary will not have to play any qualification games until September.
We last played Armenia in an international friendly in February 2004. Our 2–0 victory is our only game against them on the record. We faced Ireland in another friendly ahead of the 2024 European Championship in June of this year. Ireland ended Hungary’s 14-game unbeaten run, winning the game 2–1.
Portugal was one of our opponents in the group stage of the 2021 Euros, and beat us 3–0 on our home turf at the Puskás Arena. Meanwhile, the last time we faced Denmark was in a 2014 friendly in Debrecen, Hungary, which ended in a 2–2 tie.
Hungary would need to finish first in the group, ahead of most likely Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, to win outright qualification to the 2026 World Cup. Second-place finishers get to play in a play-off for the remaining four European spots in the spring of 2026. However, that is basically irrelevant for Hungary, given that high-ranking teams in the Nations League also make it to the play-off, and Hungary finished third in their group in League A of the competition this season.
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