2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group A

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The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group A was one of the twelve UEFA groups in the World Cup qualification tournament to decide which teams would qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup final tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States. [1] Group A consisted of four teams: Germany, Luxembourg, Northern Ireland and Slovakia. The teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format from September to November 2025.

Contents

The group winners, Germany, qualified directly for the World Cup finals, while the runners-up, Slovakia, advanced to the second round (play-offs).

Standings

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification Flag of Germany.svg Flag of Slovakia.svg Ulster Banner.svg Flag of Luxembourg.svg
1Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 6501163+1315Qualification for 2026 FIFA World Cup 6–0 3–1 4–0
2Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia 640268212Advance to play-offs 2–0 1–0 2–0
3Ulster Banner.svg  Northern Ireland 630376+19Advance to play-offs via Nations League 0–1 2–0 1–0
4Flag of Luxembourg.svg  Luxembourg 6006113120 0–2 0–1 1–3
Source: FIFA, UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Matches

The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 13 December 2024 following the draw. [2] [3] [4] Times are CET/CEST, [note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Luxembourg  Flag of Luxembourg.svg1–3Ulster Banner.svg  Northern Ireland
  • Dardari Soccerball shade.svg30'
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Slovakia  Flag of Slovakia.svg2–0Flag of Germany.svg  Germany
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)

Luxembourg  Flag of Luxembourg.svg0–1Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Germany  Flag of Germany.svg3–1Ulster Banner.svg  Northern Ireland
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne
Attendance: 43,169 [8]
Referee: Espen Eskås (Norway)

Northern Ireland  Ulster Banner.svg2–0Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Windsor Park, Belfast
Attendance: 18,109 [9]
Referee: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
Germany  Flag of Germany.svg4–0Flag of Luxembourg.svg  Luxembourg
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Rhein-Neckar-Arena, Sinsheim
Attendance: 25,249 [10]
Referee: Nenad Minaković (Serbia)

Northern Ireland  Ulster Banner.svg0–1Flag of Germany.svg  Germany
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Windsor Park, Belfast
Attendance: 17,926 [11]
Referee: Jesús Gil Manzano (Spain)
Slovakia  Flag of Slovakia.svg2–0Flag of Luxembourg.svg  Luxembourg
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)

Luxembourg  Flag of Luxembourg.svg0–2Flag of Germany.svg  Germany
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Slovakia  Flag of Slovakia.svg1–0Ulster Banner.svg  Northern Ireland
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)

Northern Ireland  Ulster Banner.svg1–0Flag of Luxembourg.svg  Luxembourg
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Windsor Park, Belfast
Attendance: 18,037 [15]
Referee: Kristo Tohver (Estonia)
Germany  Flag of Germany.svg6–0Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Red Bull Arena, Leipzig
Attendance: 40,120 [16]
Referee: François Letexier (France)

Goalscorers

There were 30 goals scored in 12 matches, for an average of 2.5 goals per match.

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Discipline

A player or team official was automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences: [17]

The following suspensions were served during the qualifying matches: [18]

TeamPlayerOffence(s)Suspended for match(es)
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany Antonio Rüdiger Yellow card.svg vs Slovakia (4 September 2025)
Yellow card.svg vs Northern Ireland (7 September 2025)
vs Luxembourg (10 October 2025)
Karim Adeyemi Yellow card.svg vs Slovakia (4 September 2025)
Yellow card.svg vs Northern Ireland (13 October 2025)
vs Luxembourg (14 November 2025)
Flag of Luxembourg.svg  Luxembourg Seid Korać Yellow card.svg Yellow-red card.svg vs Northern Ireland (4 September 2025)vs Slovakia (7 September 2025)
Danel Sinani Yellow card.svg vs Northern Ireland (4 September 2025)
Yellow card.svg vs Slovakia (7 September 2025)
vs Germany (10 October 2025)
Dirk Carlson Red card.svg vs Germany (10 October 2025)vs Slovakia (13 October 2025)
Florian Bohnert Yellow card.svg vs Northern Ireland (4 September 2025)
Yellow card.svg vs Germany (14 November 2025)
vs Northern Ireland (17 November 2025)
Jeff Strasser (manager)Yellow card.svg vs Germany (10 October 2025)
Yellow card.svg vs Germany (14 November 2025)
vs Northern Ireland (17 November 2025)
Ulster Banner.svg  Northern Ireland Conor Bradley Yellow card.svg vs Germany (7 September 2025)
Yellow card.svg vs Slovakia (10 October 2025)
vs Germany (13 October 2025)
Ethan Galbraith Yellow card.svg vs Germany (7 September 2025)
Yellow card.svg vs Germany (13 October 2025)
vs Slovakia (14 November 2025)
Daniel Ballard Yellow card.svg Yellow-red card.svg vs Slovakia (14 November 2025)vs Luxembourg (17 November 2025)
George Saville Yellow card.svg vs Germany (7 September 2025)
Yellow card.svg vs Slovakia (14 November 2025)
vs Luxembourg (17 November 2025)
Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia Ondrej Duda Yellow card.svg vs Luxembourg (7 September 2025)
Yellow card.svg vs Luxembourg (13 October 2025)
vs Northern Ireland (14 November 2025)

Notes

  1. CEST (UTC+2) for matches until 26 October 2025 (matchdays 1–4), and CET (UTC+1) for matches thereafter (matchdays 5–6).

References

  1. "Draw Procedures for the UEFA Preliminary Draw for the FIFA World Cup 26" (PDF). FIFA. 28 November 2024. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  2. "European Qualifiers for 2026 World Cup: All the fixtures and results". UEFA. 14 December 2024. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  3. "European Qualifiers 2024–26 (FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition) – Group stage fixtures by matchday" (PDF). UEFA. 13 December 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  4. "European Qualifiers 2024–26 (FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition) – Group stage fixtures by group" (PDF). UEFA. 14 December 2024. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  5. "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Luxembourg v Northern Ireland" (PDF). UEFA. 4 September 2025. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
  6. "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Slovakia v Germany" (PDF). UEFA. 4 September 2025. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
  7. "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Luxembourg v Slovakia" (PDF). UEFA. 7 September 2025. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
  8. "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Germany v Northern Ireland" (PDF). UEFA. 7 September 2025. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
  9. "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Northern Ireland v Slovakia" (PDF). UEFA. 10 October 2025. Retrieved 10 October 2025.
  10. "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Germany v Luxembourg" (PDF). UEFA. 10 October 2025. Retrieved 10 October 2025.
  11. "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Northern Ireland v Germany" (PDF). UEFA. 13 October 2025. Retrieved 13 October 2025.
  12. "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Slovakia v Luxembourg" (PDF). UEFA. 13 October 2025. Retrieved 13 October 2025.
  13. "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Luxembourg v Germany" (PDF). UEFA. 14 November 2025. Retrieved 14 November 2025.
  14. "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Slovakia v Northern Ireland" (PDF). UEFA. 14 November 2025. Retrieved 14 November 2025.
  15. "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Northern Ireland v Luxembourg" (PDF). UEFA. 17 November 2025. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  16. "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Germany v Slovakia" (PDF). UEFA. 17 November 2025. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  17. "Regulations: FIFA World Cup 2026 Preliminary Competition" (PDF). FIFA. June 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  18. "FIFA World Cup 2026: Booking List before European Qualifiers Matchday 10" (PDF). UEFA. 17 November 2025. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 November 2025. Retrieved 18 November 2025.