Soccer (FIFA)
fromwww.dw.com
1 day agoGermany's road to the 2026 World Cup starts now DW 09/01/2025
Germany must top Group A against Slovakia, Northern Ireland and Luxembourg to avoid March 2026 playoffs and secure World Cup qualification.
Such is the nature of the international football calendar that when Northern Ireland begin their efforts to make it to the 2026 World Cup against Luxembourg on Thursday it will be their first qualifying game in almost two years. A 2-0 win over Denmark at Windsor Park in October 2023 was the last time Michael O'Neill's side faced such a fixture with their success over the Euro 2024-bound side proving to be something of an outlier in recent times.