Trio still "dangerous"
Draw: ÖFB team still in the hot seat
Austria are in pot 1 in the draw - so there would be no hurdles on the way to the first World Cup since 1998. One trio is still "dangerous".
"Many of my players were in the last World Cup qualifiers. They lost to Wales - not exactly the hub of the soccer world either." While the whole of Austria is speculating and hoping, team boss Ralf Rangnick does not want to overestimate the pot classification: "It doesn't matter whether we come from pot 1 or pot 2. We know that we will need a performance like this to qualify for the World Cup," Rangnick emphasized after the 5:1 against Norway.
But there is a good chance that Sabitzer, Arnautovic and Co. will not face a major obstacle (at least on paper) on their way to the 2026 World Cup next year. Even though UEFA has not yet confirmed the official "distribution key" for the draw on December 13 in Zurich. What is clear is that twelve (out of 54) European nations will end up in the first draw pot. And Austria is currently in the hot seat.
Because the FIFA world rankings are used as a criterion. And Austria is in 22nd place, making it the twelfth-best nation in Europe (see statistics below), and cannot be displaced by Ukraine.
12 tickets for pot 1 in the World Cup qualifiers
1st (current ranking) 2nd (place in world ranking) FRANCE
2. 3RD SPAIN
3RD 4TH ENGLAND
4. 6. BELGIUM
5. 7. NETHERLANDS
6. 8. PORTUGAL
7. 10. ITALY
8. 12. CROATIA
9. 13. GERMANY
10. 15. SWITZERLAND
11. 20. DENMARK
12. 22. AUSTRIA
13. 24. UKRAINE
14. 30. POLAND
15. 32. HUNGARY
16. 35. SERBIA
Decision in November
The problem: The eight quarter-finalists in League A of the Nations League (top 2 of the groups) are automatically seeded in Pot 1 of the World Cup qualifiers - so Hungary, Serbia and Poland could theoretically still topple Austria into Pot 2. However, this will not be decided until November.
Austria have not been to a World Cup since 1998. They have often failed to make it past the giants: Spain (2002), England (2006), France (2010) and Germany (2014). But Serbia, Ireland and Wales (2018) have also been too strong. And before the last World Cup, they crumbled to Wales in the play-off after only finishing fourth in their group.
There are never any guarantees - but Rangnick's Austria are now a top nation. The path would be clear from pot 1 ...
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