Romania impressively won the away match against Cyprus on Saturday evening, with a score of 3-0 in round 3 of the Nations League.
A victory that brings us closer to winning Group 2 in League C, but also towards promotion to League B. However, the real goal is even more important. Qualifying for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico, and Canada. And the path through the Nations League could not be more favorable after these 9 points out of 9 possible, under the new mandate of Mircea Lucescu.
It must be mentioned that currently, Romania is the only team in League C with a maximum score. And in order to reach the World Cup 2026 playoff via the Nations League, it is not only relevant to finish first in our group, but also to be as high as possible in the Division C ranking among nations. Because places are determined by the total points order among the group winners. This means that Friday's draw between Slovakia and Sweden, 2-2, worked in our favor.
The 2026 World Cup will be the first with 48 teams at the start. From Europe, the number of national teams participating in the final tournament will increase from 13 to 16 teams. It will include the winners of the 12 preliminary groups plus four teams coming from the playoff. The teams entering the playoff from the Nations League are based on a ranking of points with the top four teams from each League, in order of importance: A, B, C (where Romania is) and D.
The teams finishing in the top 2 places in the preliminaries will be excluded. Therefore, four of the remaining top teams will make it to the playoff. The ranking is based on points earned, then goal difference. So, what matters now is to win the group with as many points as possible, ideally with the maximum points.
In a scenario already very likely that Romania would win League C in terms of points, it would mean 9th place in the playoff ranking. This implies that five teams from Leagues A and B will qualify for the World Cup or the playoff from the classic preliminaries. So, there is about a 90 percent chance that we could go to the playoff where we would need to overcome two nations in two-legged ties. It is important to note that Romania would not be a seeded team in the playoff draw.