Marco Materazzi Getty Images November 25, 2025, 11:23 p.m

The International Football Federation has officially decided that the teams that will qualify for the World Cup through the play-off matches (this category currently includes the national team of Ukraine) will automatically enter the 4th basket.

This means that in the case of successful qualification, Ukraine will face a very difficult group, as the 4th basket consists of the weakest ranked participants, who are guaranteed to enter the groups with the strongest teams from the 1st basket.

FIFA has approved a major change to the draw procedure, implementing a seeding system similar to that used at the Wimbledon tennis tournament.

The changes are designed to ensure that the strongest national teams play each other in the later stages of the competition, increasing interest in the final stages of the tournament.