Croatia Qualifies Automatically for 2026 World Cup, Poland Forced into Playoffs

The Croatian national team, having already secured a spot in the 2026 World Cup, defeated Montenegro in their final UEFA qualification match. Meanwhile, Poland, despite winning against Malta, must now fight for qualification through the play-off route.

A five-goal thriller marked Croatia's victory in their World Cup 2026 Qualifying Group L match. Playing away at Montenegro's Podgorica City Stadium on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, Croatia won 3-2.

Montenegro initially took a two-goal lead through Milutin Osmajic and Nikola Krstovic. Croatia rallied and turned the game around with goals from Ivan Perisic, Kristijan Jakic, and Nikola Vlasic.

This victory solidified Croatia's position at the top of the final Group L standings with 22 points from eight matches.

Meanwhile, Montenegro finished fourth in the final Group L standings of the World Cup 2026 Qualifiers after managing only nine points from eight matches.

In Group G action, Poland secured a 3-2 victory when they visited Malta's National Stadium in Attard.

Robert Lewandowski, Pawel Wszolek, and Piotr Zielinski scored Poland's three goals. Malta's two goals were scored by Irvin Cardona and Teddy Teuma.

With this win, Poland concluded their World Cup 2026 UEFA Group G qualifying campaign in second place in the standings with 17 points from eight matches.

Poland will now compete in the play-offs as Group G runners-up to fight for one spot in the 2026 World Cup.

On the other hand, Malta remains in fourth place in the provisional Group G standings of the World Cup 2026 Qualifiers with five points from eight matches.

Here are the results of the World Cup 2026 UEFA Qualifiers on Tuesday, November 18, 2025:

Malta 2 - 3 Poland

Czech Republic 6 - 0 Gibraltar

Netherlands 4 - 0 Lithuania

Germany 6 - 0 Slovakia

Northern Ireland 1 - 0 Luxembourg

Montenegro 2 - 3 Croatia.