2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group I

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The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group I is one of the twelve UEFA groups in the World Cup qualification tournament to decide which teams will qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup final tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States.[1] Group I consists of five teams: Estonia, Israel, Italy, Moldova and Norway. The teams will play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format from March to November 2025. However, as Italy were involved in the Nations League A quarter-finals in March, they began their qualifying campaign in June 2025.

The group winner will qualify directly for the World Cup finals, while the runner-up will advance to the second round (play-offs).

Standings

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Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Norway Italy Israel Estonia Moldova
1  Norway (T) 6 6 0 0 29 3 +26 18 Qualification for 2026 FIFA World Cup — 3–0 5–0 13 Nov 11–1
2  Italy (T) 6 5 0 1 18 8 +10 15 Advance to play-offs 16 Nov — 3–0 5–0 2–0
3  Israel (Z) 7 3 0 4 15 19 −4 9 2–4 4–5 — 2–1 16 Nov
4  Estonia (E) 7 1 1 5 7 17 −10 4 0–1 1–3 1–3 — 1–1
5  Moldova (Z) 6 0 1 5 4 26 −22 1 0–5 13 Nov 0–4 2–3 —
Updated to match(es) played on 14 October 2025. Source: FIFA, UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(E) Eliminated; (T) Assured of at least a play-off berth; may still qualify directly; (Z) Cannot qualify via group position but may still qualify for a play-off berth based on Nations League ranking

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).

Moldova 0–5 Norway
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 9,342[5]
Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia)
Israel 2–1 Estonia
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 270[7]
Moldova 2–3 Estonia
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 6,112[8]
Israel 2–4 Norway
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 1,200[9]
Estonia 1–3 Israel
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 5,967[10]
Norway 3–0 Italy
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 25,796[11]
Estonia 0–1 Norway
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 11,577[12]
Italy 2–0 Moldova
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 18,771[13]
Moldova 0–4 Israel
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 7,242[14]
Italy 5–0 Estonia
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 22,559[15]
Israel 4–5 Italy
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 2,540[16]
Norway 11–1 Moldova
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 24,605[18]
Norway 5–0 Israel
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 19,363[19]
Estonia 1–3 Italy
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 11,913[20]
Estonia 1–1 Moldova
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 4,731[21]
Referee: Igor Pajač (Croatia)
Italy 3–0 Israel
 Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Attendance: 9,965[22]
Norway v Estonia
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Moldova v Italy
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Israel v Moldova
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)
Italy v Norway
Report (FIFA)
Report (UEFA)

Goalscorers

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There have been 73 goals scored in 16 matches, for an average of 4.56 goals per match (as of 14 October 2025).

12 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Discipline

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A player is automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:[23]

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

The following suspensions were (or will be) served during the qualifying matches:

Team Player Offence(s) Suspended for match(es)
 Estonia Markus Soomets Yellow card Yellow-red card vs Israel (22 March 2025) vs Moldova (25 March 2025)
Kevor Palumets Yellow card Yellow-red card vs Moldova (25 March 2025) vs Israel (6 June 2025)
Rasmus Peetson Yellow card vs Israel (22 March 2025)
Yellow card vs Moldova (25 March 2025)		 vs Israel (6 June 2025)
Henri Anier Yellow card vs Israel (22 March 2025)
Yellow card vs Italy (5 September 2025)		 vs Italy (11 October 2025)
 Moldova Maxim Cojocaru Red card vs Estonia (25 March 2025) vs Italy (9 June 2025)
Vadim Rață Yellow card vs Norway (22 March 2025)
Yellow card vs Estonia (25 March 2025)		 vs Italy (9 June 2025)
Ion Nicolaescu Yellow card vs Estonia (25 March 2025)
Yellow card vs Italy (9 June 2025)		 vs Israel (5 September 2025)

Notes

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  1. ^ CET (UTC+1) for matches until 29 March and from 26 October (matchday 1–2 and 9–10), and CEST (UTC+2) for matches from 30 March to 25 October 2025 (matchday 3–8).
  2. ^ a b c d Due to the Gaza war, Israel are required to play their home matches at neutral venues until further notice.[6]
  3. ^ The Norway v Moldova match, originally scheduled for 8 September 2025,[3] was moved to the following day due to the 2025 Norwegian parliamentary election.[17]

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. ^ a b "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 – Moldova v Norway" (PDF). UEFA. 22 March 2025. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  6. ^ "European Qualifier match between Belgium and Sweden declared abandoned with half-time result confirmed as final". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 19 October 2023. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  7. ^ "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Israel v Estonia" (PDF). UEFA. 22 March 2025. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  8. ^ "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Moldova v Estonia" (PDF). UEFA. 25 March 2025. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
  9. ^ "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Israel v Norway" (PDF). UEFA. 25 March 2025. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
  10. ^ "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Estonia v Israel" (PDF). UEFA. 6 June 2025. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
  11. ^ "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Norway v Italy" (PDF). UEFA. 6 June 2025. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
  12. ^ "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Estonia v Norway" (PDF). UEFA. 9 June 2025. Retrieved 9 June 2025.
  13. ^ "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Italy v Moldova" (PDF). UEFA. 9 June 2025. Retrieved 9 June 2025.
  14. ^ "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Moldova v Israel" (PDF). UEFA. 5 September 2025. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  15. ^ "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Italy v Estonia" (PDF). UEFA. 5 September 2025. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  16. ^ "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Israel v Italy" (PDF). UEFA. 8 September 2025. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  17. ^ Schjesvold, Fredrik; Monge Hugsted, Christian (29 January 2025). "Vil avverge kaosdag og flytte landskamp" [Avert a day of chaos and move international match]. Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Oslo. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
  18. ^ "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Norway v Moldova" (PDF). UEFA. 9 September 2025. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  19. ^ "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Norway v Israel" (PDF). UEFA. 11 October 2025. Retrieved 11 October 2025.
  20. ^ "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Estonia v Italy" (PDF). UEFA. 11 October 2025. Retrieved 11 October 2025.
  21. ^ "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Estonia v Moldova" (PDF). UEFA. 14 October 2025. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  22. ^ "Full Time Report Qualifying round – Italy v Israel" (PDF). UEFA. 14 October 2025. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  23. ^ "Regulations: FIFA World Cup 2026 Preliminary Competition" (PDF). FIFA. June 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
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