France head coach Didier Deschamps says the FIFA World Cup™ “remains the greatest tournament of all” after the 54 member associations affiliated to UEFA vying to reach the FIFA World Cup 26™ learned their potential route to the newly expanded 48-team tournament at a UEFA Preliminary Draw in Zurich.

Deschamps won the 1998 FIFA World Cup France™ as the hosts' captain, before leading Les Bleus to 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ glory as coach. Depending on the outcome of the 2024/25 UEFA Nations League quarter-finals in March 2025, his France side could go up against the likes of Ukraine or Czechia on the road to the 2026 World Cup.

Thomas Tuchel’s England, meanwhile, have qualifiers against Serbia, Albania, Latvia and Andorra to look forward to as they try to secure one of a record-high 16 European qualification berths for the 2026 finals in Canada, Mexico and the United States. Inside FIFA rounds up the reaction to the UEFA Preliminary Draw…

Didier Deschamps (France) “It’s essential for a great football nation like France to compete at every great competition whether it's a (UEFA) European Championship or a (FIFA) World Cup. The (FIFA) World Cup remains the greatest tournament of all. Not only in football but in the entire world. It’s a global event. So, of course, the great football nations have a duty to compete. It’s not always the case. There are upsets, as we say. But yes, it's the most widely viewed competition with the best European and international teams. It’s the highest level.”

Thomas Tuchel (England) “[It's a] difficult group. Serbia, Albania, very emotional, good players, good individual players, top coaches. Very famous ex-players, so it’ll be tough. Latvia is a new challenge for us. England (have) never faced Latvia, so let’s see if we can get to know them better, and understand better what we are facing. And we will be favourites against Andorra, of course. But qualification is never easy because the gap (is closing) between the smaller nations and the bigger nations, so we have to be (at) our top level to make it to the (FIFA) World Cup.”

Luciano Spalletti (Italy) “[Qualifying for the World Cup] means everything, for the future of our football and the future of our lads who love this sport. The Italian flag is extremely important in terms of sports and football. We need to measure up the mission we’ve been assigned.”

Murat Yakin (Switzerland) “We just can’t wait for the matches. We will prioritise great preparation because we have a good plan and, therefore, we want to have a good start. The expectation is huge. In the past, we have always qualified and we also want to be part of this special tournament. We saw the euphoria in Switzerland in the last tournament, therefore the audience expects a lot from us as well as what we expect from ourselves.”

Willy Sagnol (Georgia) “For us, having played in the EURO this year was already extraordinary, so I can’t even imagine what qualifying for a (FIFA) World Cup would be like. But we are going to do everything we can to achieve that, because it’s a global event that we hope to participate in one day.”

Michał Probierz (Poland) “Just qualifying for the (FIFA) World Cup is very important, not only for the players or the coach but also for the entire nation. It is also a great opportunity to travel. We have a massive Polish community in the US. It would definitely be something special for them.”

Sylvinho (Albania) “We have a really tough, difficult group as well. It’s going to be hard to play, but if you have a dream, as we (have) never played as a national team – the Albanian national team (has) never played (at) a (FIFA) World Cup. So, we know the way is very hard, very difficult, but you have to try. At least you have to try. You should be (on) the pitch playing 90 minutes in every… Every single match is going to be a final for us. So we have to try at least. We’ve got some good players, good spirit, so we have to try at least.”

The UEFA qualifying group stage will run from March to November 2025, featuring 12 groups of four or five teams, with the group winners punching their ticket to the FIFA World Cup.

The four remaining places will be decided in March 2026 in a 16-team UEFA play-off involving the 12 group-stage runners-up and the four best-ranked UEFA Nations League 2024/25 group winners that have neither qualified directly for the FIFA World Cup as group winners nor entered the play-offs already as group runners-up.