Draw in the ticker

LIVE from 12 noon: ÖFB team find out their World Cup qualifying opponents

Baumgartner and Co. are eager to qualify for the World Cup.

(Bild: GEPA/GEPA pictures)

It's getting serious. Austria's national soccer team will find out its opponents in the World Cup qualifiers today in Zurich. We will be reporting live from 12 noon, see ticker below.

Here is the live ticker:

The ÖFB team is seeded in pot one in the draw. This means that team boss Ralf Rangnick's side will be spared duels with the biggest European giants such as Spain, France and Germany next year. The chance of making it to the 2026 finals in the USA, Mexico and Canada seems better than it has for a long time. The group winner will receive a World Cup ticket, with the runner-up going through to a play-off with two knockout rounds in March 2026. Austria have also almost secured their place in the Nations League. However, the clear goal is to secure their first World Cup participation since 1998 directly. After the draw, the Austrians are in any case the best-placed team in their group in the world rankings. However, they have had unpleasant encounters with some of their potential opponents in the recent past.

ÖFB team boss Ralf Rangnick

(Bild: APA/MAX SLOVENCIK)

Reunion with Turkey and Norway possible
In pot two are Turkey, who they were slightly favored to beat 2-1 in the European Championship round of 16 in Leipzig at the beginning of July, and Norway. Although Erling Haaland and Co. dispatched the ÖFB team 5:1 in Linz in October, Austria finished behind the Norwegians in the final Nations League standings because they only managed to draw 1:1 twice against Slovenia. The Slovenians will be drawn from pot three - as will Scotland and Ireland.

The other possible challengers to the ÖFB team from the second pot are Ukraine, Sweden, Wales, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Greece, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Serbia. The Serbs will be Austria's first opponents of the new year in a first and second leg in March. The World Cup qualifiers will not begin for Austria until June at the earliest - and possibly not until September - due to the relegation play-off for a return to the top division of the Nations League.

Group of five somewhat more likely
The 54 teams in total will be drawn into six groups of four and six groups of five. The groups of four will be played on just three double dates in the fall. A group of five is slightly more likely for Austria. This has to do with the final tournament of the Nations League in June. All eight quarter-finalists in the Nations League are in pot one. In any case, the four quarter-final winners from next March will be drawn into a group of four via placeholders. Only two of these groups will still be free.

In groups of five, on the other hand, Austria cannot face any other team that is also involved in the Nations League relegation in March due to the way the fixture list is organized - one of many necessities that the computer takes into account when drawing the lots. In addition to Rangnick, the ÖFB will be represented in Zurich by sports director Peter Schöttel, managing director Bernhard Neuhold and press spokesman Christian Wiesmayr.