England and new coach Tuchel land in 2026 World Cup qualifying group with Serbia and Albania

ZURICH (AP) — Thomas Tuchel’s first official duty as England coach on Friday was to see his new team drawn in a 2026 World Cup qualifying group with Serbia, Albania, Latvia and Andorra.

Tuchel starts work in January as the first German coach of the 1966 World Cup winner but was at FIFA headquarters to see the 54 European teams drawn into 12 qualifying groups. Games start in March for groups with five teams, but groups with four teams — like England’s — will begin in September.

Europe will send 16 teams to the first 48-team World Cup, being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. The 12 group winners next November advance directly and runners-up go to a playoff in March 2026, joined by four more teams who won a Nations League group last month.

England is one of the few top-seeded teams to already know its qualifying opponents. Most groups are still incomplete as eight top-seeded teams will be placed based on the results of their Nations League quarterfinals in March.

The winner of the quarterfinal between European champion Spain and the Netherlands faces a tough Group E with Turkey, Georgia and Bulgaria.

The winner between France and Croatia in March will head Group D with Ukraine, Iceland and Azerbaijan. The loser of that Nations League quarterfinal will be in the five-team Group L with the Czech Republic, Montenegro, Faeroe Islands and Gibraltar.

If Germany beats Italy in March it will be in Group A with Slovakia, Northern Ireland, Luxembourg. The loser of that game will land in Group I with Erling Haaland’s Norway, Israel, Estonia and Moldova.

The four teams that advance to the Nations League Final Four in June cannot start in World Cup qualifying until September, and have to play in four-team groups.

Russia was excluded from Friday’s draw because its teams are banned from international competitions by FIFA and UEFA since the military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer