Home › Soccer Lines › Soccer Articles › UEFA World Cup Qualifiers
World Cup betting odds: Europe is largely considered to be the champion continent when it comes to soccer. A European team has gone on to win the World Cup in three straight editions of the event, and in two of the three, the confederation had the finalist as well. In fact, the last time a team from UEFA wasn't represented in the World Cup Final was in 1950 when Uruguay beat Brazil at the Maracana in one of the best finals in World Cup history. The path to reaching the World Cup is probably easier for the big teams in Europe than in any other confederation, as there are a heck of a lot of matches to be played against a lot of paper thin teams. Europe takes a whopping 13 spots in the World Cup, and it gets a bonus in 2018 due to the fact that Russia is automatically qualified.
Catch all of the qualifying for the 2018 World Cup at venues all over the world between now and November 2017!
Information current through qualifying fixtures to be held in June 2017.
Next Matches – Europe World Cup Qualifying
Thursday, August 31
Bulgaria vs. Sweden
France vs. Netherlands
Luxembourg vs. Belarus
Hungary vs. Latvia
Portugal vs. Faroe Islands
Switzerland vs. Andorra
Cyprus vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina
Greece vs. Estonia
Belgium vs. Gibraltar
Friday, September 1
Kazakhstan vs. Montenegro
Czech Republic vs. Germany
Norway vs. Azerbaijan
Denmark vs. Poland
Romania vs. Armenia
Lithuania vs. Scotland
Malta vs. England
Slovakia vs. Slovenia
San Marino vs. Northern Ireland
Saturday, September 2
Georgia vs. Ireland
Serbia vs. Moldova
Albania vs. Liechtenstein
Finland vs. Iceland
Wales vs. Austria
Israel vs. Macedonia
Spain vs. Italy
Ukraine vs. Turkey
Croatia vs. Kosovo
Sunday, September 3
Belarus vs. Sweden
Netherlands vs. Bulgaria
Faroe Islands vs. Andorra
Estonia vs. Cyprus
France vs. Luxembourg
Hungary vs. Portugal
Latvia vs. Switzerland
Greece vs. Belgium
Gibraltar vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina
Monday, September 4
Azerbaijan vs. San Marino
Armenia vs. Denmark
Germany vs. Norway
Montenegro vs. Romania
Poland vs. Kazakhstan
England vs. Slovakia
Scotland vs. Malta
Slovenia vs. Lithuania
Northern Ireland vs. Czech Republic
Tuesday, September 5
Austria vs. Georgia
Macedonia vs. Albania
Iceland vs. Ukraine
Ireland vs. Serbia
Italy vs. Israel
Liechtenstein vs. Spain
Moldova vs. Wales
Turkey vs. Croatia
Kosovo vs. Finland
There are a few huge matches coming up in the penultimate round of qualifying matches for the World Cup in UEFA. The biggest of the bunch is clearly Spain vs. Italy. Group G was always supposed to be a two-team race, and that's exactly how this has played out. These two behemoths are sitting on 16 points having only dropped two points to each other in Turin in October. Assuming that neither drops a point the rest of the way, Italy will have to win in Madrid to win Group G. The loser of this fixture will be headed into the crapshoot that is the 180-minute home-and-home second place affairs.
The same could end up being said for the England/Slovakia duel on September 4. The Three Lions will probably effectively wrap up their World Cup bid if they can win this match at home, and they've already beaten the Slovaks on the road 1-0. Still, after escaping Scotland with a draw in the last round of qualifying, this team looks far from sure of itself, and 14 points in six matches isn't quite a guarantee of advancement yet.
The duel between the French and Dutch on August 31 could be interesting as well. La Oranje need all three points in Paris if they want to have a shot at qualifying for the World Cup. If the Netherlands does happen to steal all three points though, France will enter its last three World Cup qualifiers in third place in this group and facing a real uphill battle to have any shot of even playing into the second round of qualifying.
First Round UEFA World Cup Qualifying (Advancing Teams in Bold)
There are 55 teams in UEFA now with the additions of Kosovo and Gibraltar to the field. Russia has automatically qualified as the host of the event, while the others are placed into six groups of nine. The top nine teams in the world according to the World FIFA Rankings were placed at the heads of each of the nine groups, followed by a team from the next group of nine, the next group of nine, and so and so forth until all of the teams were placed. Unlike some of the other confederations where there might not be a huge gap in teams or more rounds to weed out the really undeserving clubs, the groups in Europe end up being incredibly lopsided, and often times, there is zero doubt who is going to advance. The teams play home and away against all of their competitors in the group for a total of 10 matches each, a process that starts in September 2016 just after the Euros are said and done with and wrap up just over a year later.
All of the group winners automatically qualify for the World Cup. Eight of the nine second place finishers advance into the second round of qualifying. The nine second place teams are ranked by their total points accrued in matches against all teams aside from the last place teams in their groups. This is done so the teams that get to play against the worst of the worst teams don't rack up incredible goal differentials that could result in messing with tiebreakers.
Group A
| Team |
W |
D |
L |
GD |
Pts |
| Sweden |
4 |
1 |
1 |
+8 |
13 |
| France |
4 |
1 |
1 |
+6 |
13 |
| Netherlands |
3 |
1 |
2 |
+7 |
10 |
| Bulgaria |
3 |
0 |
3 |
-3 |
9 |
| Belarus |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-7 |
5 |
| Luxembourg |
0 |
1 |
5 |
-11 |
1 |
Group B
| Team |
W |
D |
L |
GD |
Pts |
| Switzerland |
6 |
0 |
0 |
+9 |
18 |
| Portugal |
5 |
0 |
1 |
+19 |
15 |
| Hungary |
2 |
1 |
3 |
+1 |
7 |
| Faroe Islands |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-8 |
5 |
| Andorra |
1 |
1 |
4 |
-11 |
4 |
| Latvia |
1 |
0 |
5 |
-10 |
3 |
Group C
| Team |
W |
D |
L |
GD |
Pts |
| Germany |
6 |
0 |
0 |
+26 |
18 |
| Northern Ireland |
4 |
1 |
1 |
+9 |
13 |
| Czech Republic |
2 |
3 |
1 |
+4 |
9 |
| Azerbaijan |
2 |
1 |
3 |
-6 |
7 |
| Norway |
1 |
1 |
4 |
-4 |
4 |
| San Marino |
0 |
0 |
6 |
-29 |
0 |
Group D
| Team |
W |
D |
L |
GD |
Pts |
| Serbia |
3 |
3 |
0 |
+6 |
12 |
| Ireland |
3 |
3 |
0 |
+4 |
12 |
| Wales |
1 |
5 |
0 |
+4 |
8 |
| Austria |
2 |
2 |
2 |
+1 |
8 |
| Georgia |
0 |
3 |
3 |
-4 |
3 |
| Moldova |
0 |
2 |
4 |
-11 |
2 |
Group E
| Team |
W |
D |
L |
GD |
Pts |
| Poland |
5 |
1 |
0 |
+8 |
16 |
| Montenegro |
3 |
1 |
2 |
+7 |
10 |
| Denmark |
3 |
1 |
2 |
+4 |
10 |
| Romania |
1 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
| Armenia |
2 |
0 |
4 |
-7 |
6 |
| Kazakhstan |
0 |
2 |
4 |
-12 |
2 |
Group F
| Team |
W |
D |
L |
GD |
Pts |
| England |
4 |
2 |
0 |
+8 |
14 |
| Slovakia |
4 |
0 |
2 |
+8 |
12 |
| Slovenia |
3 |
2 |
1 |
+3 |
11 |
| Scotland |
2 |
2 |
2 |
-1 |
8 |
| Lithuania |
1 |
2 |
3 |
-5 |
5 |
| Malta |
0 |
0 |
6 |
-13 |
0 |
Group G
| Team |
W |
D |
L |
GD |
Pts |
| Spain |
5 |
1 |
0 |
+18 |
16 |
| Italy |
5 |
1 |
0 |
+14 |
16 |
| Albania |
3 |
0 |
3 |
-1 |
9 |
| Israel |
3 |
0 |
3 |
-3 |
9 |
| Macedonia |
1 |
0 |
5 |
-5 |
3 |
| Liechtenstein |
0 |
0 |
6 |
-23 |
0 |
Group H
| Team |
W |
D |
L |
GD |
Pts |
| Belgium |
5 |
1 |
0 |
+22 |
16 |
| Greece |
3 |
3 |
0 |
+7 |
12 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina |
3 |
2 |
1 |
+8 |
11 |
| Cyprus |
2 |
1 |
3 |
-4 |
7 |
| Estonia |
1 |
1 |
4 |
-12 |
4 |
| Gibraltar |
0 |
0 |
6 |
-21 |
0 |
Group I
| Team |
W |
D |
L |
GD |
Pts |
| Croatia |
4 |
1 |
1 |
+9 |
13 |
| Iceland |
4 |
1 |
1 |
+3 |
13 |
| Turkey |
3 |
2 |
1 |
+5 |
11 |
| Ukraine |
3 |
2 |
1 |
+4 |
11 |
| Finland |
0 |
1 |
5 |
-6 |
1 |
| Kosovo |
0 |
1 |
5 |
-15 |
1 |
Second Round UEFA World Cup Qualifying (Advancing Teams in Bold)
Once the top eight second place finishers in the group stage of the competition are determined, they are randomly drawn against each other to play in home-and-home matches. Some will surely be easier than others, while there will certainly be situations where a team like Spain or Italy out of Group G could be matched up against a team like a Portugal or Switzerland out of Group B. There's no doubt though, that all four of these teams will feel like they deserve spots in the World Cup. These two matches will take place in November 2017 at the same time the intercontinental playoffs are ongoing.
| Team 1 |
Team 2 |
1st leg |
2nd leg |
| TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
| TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
| TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
| TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
Log into BookMaker Sportsbook and get betting odds for UEFA World Cup Qualifiers Betting and information about this and all other sporting events!
