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.

The group winners, Germany, qualified directly for the World Cup finals, while the runners-up, Slovakia, advanced to the second round (play-offs). In addition, Northern Ireland advanced to the play-offs via their Nations League ranking.

Standings

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Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Germany Slovakia Northern Ireland Luxembourg
1  Germany 6 5 0 1 16 3 +13 15 Qualification for 2026 FIFA World Cup — 6–0 3–1 4–0
2  Slovakia 6 4 0 2 6 8 −2 12 Advance to play-offs 2–0 — 1–0 2–0
3  Northern Ireland 6 3 0 3 7 6 +1 9 Advance to play-offs via Nations League 0–1 2–0 — 1–0
4  Luxembourg 6 0 0 6 1 13 −12 0 0–2 0–1 1–3 —
Source: FIFA, UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Matches

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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 1–3 Northern Ireland
  • Dardari 30'
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 9,214[5]
Slovakia 2–0 Germany
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 20,013[6]
Luxembourg 0–1 Slovakia
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 8,487[7]
Germany 3–1 Northern Ireland
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 43,169[8]
Referee: Espen Eskås (Norway)
Northern Ireland 2–0 Slovakia
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 18,109[9]
Referee: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
Germany 4–0 Luxembourg
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 25,249[10]
Northern Ireland 0–1 Germany
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 17,926[11]
Slovakia 2–0 Luxembourg
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 13,010[12]
Luxembourg 0–2 Germany
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 9,214[13]
Referee: John Brooks (England)
Slovakia 1–0 Northern Ireland
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 12,093[14]
Northern Ireland 1–0 Luxembourg
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 18,037[15]
Germany 6–0 Slovakia
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 40,120[16]

Goalscorers

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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

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

  • Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious offences)
  • Receiving two yellow cards in two different matches (yellow card suspensions were carried forward to the play-offs, but not the finals or any other future international matches)

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

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

Notes

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

References

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  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.
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