Italy will first host Northern Ireland in a World Cup qualifying playoff in March but then would need to go on the road to qualify for their first tournament after back-to-back failures at this stage.
On Thursday, FIFA held the playoffs draw that will send the winner between four-time champion Italy and the Northern Irish on March 26 to travel to face Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina five days later. At stake was a place at the first 48-team finals tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Italy have not played at a World Cup since 2014 and were pushed into the playoffs after finishing runners-up in a qualifying group won by Norway this month.
Kosovo’s path to a first-ever World Cup as Europe’s newest football nation is away to Slovakia followed by hosting Turkey or Romania.
Ireland’s reward for remarkable back-to-back wins over Portugal and Hungary in the past week is a playoff semifinal at the Czech Republic with the winner then hosting Denmark or North Macedonia.
Iraq, who were seeded in the draw, will have to beat Bolivia or Suriname in a one-game playoff next March to qualify.
Congo were seeded in the other intercontinental playoffs bracket and will play the winner of a single-game semifinal between New Caledonia and Jamaica.
The six intercontinental playoff games will be staged in Mexico from March 23-31 at stadiums in Guadalajara and Monterrey, who each will host four World Cup games next June.
A total of six teams will advance from the two sets of playoffs in March to complete the first 48-nation lineup.
The other 42 teams were confirmed this week when qualifying groups and playoff games were completed on four continents.
The World Cup draw is on Dec. 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. There, the six unconfirmed playoffs teams will be drawn as placeholders and should come out of the pot of lowest-ranked teams in the seeded draw.
A penalty scored by Iraq in the 17th minute of stoppage time against the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday sent coach Graham Arnold’s team through to the global playoffs. Iraq’s 2-1 win in Basra sealed a 3-2 victory in the two-leg Asian playoff.
New Caledonia is the lowest-ranked team in the playoffs, at No. 149 of the 211 FIFA member countries.
New Caledonia effectively advanced to the playoffs by beating Tahiti 3-0 in March, before losing the Oceania qualifying final against New Zealand. Coach Johann Sidaner’s team has played just one game since, beating Gibraltar in a friendly last month.
FIFA also made the draw for the six-nation intercontinental playoffs that do not involve Europe.
Wales with the advantage in the World Cup playoffs? (2:41)Gab Marcotti and Mark Ogden discuss the World Cup playoff draw which sees Wales at home to Bosnia & Herzegovina and Northern Ireland travel to Italy. (2:41)