England football team fixtures, kickoff times and group in World Cup 2026 qualifiers explained

The first steps on England manager Thomas Tuchel’s mission to win the 2026 Fifa World Cup began with eight qualifiers within eight months in 2025.

The Three Lions qualified with two games to spare for a seventh consecutive edition of the tournament, which will be held in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Ranked fourth in the Fifa rankings before their qualifying campaign began, England’s best run since they failed to reach the finals in 1994 has been a fourth-placed finish in 2018.

Here’s what you need to know about the England football team fixtures, group and qualifiers for the World Cup, including who they’re playing and how they qualified.

Is that the goal that sends England to the World Cup? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏆

Kane doubles England's lead with a fine strike ⚽️⚽️#ITVFootball | #ThreeLions pic.twitter.com/X2jkXocWR1— ITV Football (@itvfootball) October 14, 2025

England World Cup qualifiers: What group are they in?

England are in Group K alongside Albania, Latvia, Andorra and Serbia. Of those opponents, Serbia’s standing of 32 at the start of qualifying made them by far the highest-ranked team Thomas Tuchel’s side would face.

Serbia proved tricky opponents at Euro 2024, with only a Bellingham goal separating the teams in their opener in Germany, but a 5-0 win in Belgrade in September proved the finest result of Tuchel’s reign so far.

Including games as Yugoslavia and Serbia & Montenegro, Dragan Stojkovic’s nation have lost their last six meetings with England, although they had held an impressive record of one defeat in their last 21 World Cup qualifying matches before the group began, winning 14 and drawing six.

Latvia are ranked 137th and had never previously played England, while Andorra are 174th.

Albania are ranked 68th and lost 2-0 at Wembley Stadium in Tuchel’s first match in charge and England’s first qualifer on March 21.

They are one of five nations England have faced more than six times and won against every time, alongside Luxembourg (9), San Marino (8), Malta (7) and Andorra (6).

Noni Madueke has his first England goal and it's a BEAUTY 👏🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Appreciation for the Rogers flick on 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/FEbaGjiMzh— ITV Football (@itvfootball) September 9, 2025

England football team World Cup qualifying fixtures

Friday, March 21: England 2-0 Albania
Monday, March 24: England 3-0 Latvia
Saturday, June 7: Andorra 0-1 England
Saturday, September 6: England 2-0 Andorra
Tuesday, September 9: Serbia 0-5 England
Tuesday, October 14: Latvia 0-5 England
Thursday, November 13: England vs Serbia (19:45 GMT)
Sunday, November 16: Albania vs England (17:00)

England: World Cup 2026 qualifying path

The top team from each of the 12 European Qualifier groups proceeds automatically to the finals, which will be expanded to 48 teams.

The 12 runners-up in each group will join four Nations League teams in the play-offs, which will be drawn from pots based on teams’ records during the campaign. The games will comprise single-leg semi-finals and finals.

The draw for the World Cup finals will take place in December 2025. The tournament runs from June 11 until July 19 2026.

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