World Cup 2026: Northern Ireland's play-off venue confirmed

It's been confirmed that Northern Ireland’s World Cup play-off semi-final against Italy in March will be staged in Bergamo.

The New Balance Arena, known as the Stadio di Bergamo in UEFA and FIFA competitions, is the home of Serie A club Atalanta and has a capacity of 23,439.

The city of Bergamo is located in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately 25 miles north-east of Milan and will host the tie on Thursday March 26th.

If Northern Ireland defeat the Italians they will play the winners of the semi-final between Wales and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the final on March 31st, with that game also away from home.

Meanwhile, the draw for next year’s World Cup in Canada, Mexico and USA is being staged in the USA tomorrow.

Northern Ireland, Italy, Wales and the Bosnians are in Path A of the European play-offs. In tomorrow’s draw for the group stages, the winners (TBC) of the four European paths (A to D) will all be in Pot 4.

The 12 groups at the World Cup will include one team from each of four pots. The other pots for the group stages, based on FIFA’s ranking system, are as follows:

Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Portugal, Brazil, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany

Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia

Pot 3: Panama, Norway, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa

Pot 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti and New Zealand along with the winners (TBC) of the four European paths and the winners (TBC) of two inter-confederation play-offs

The draw is being staged at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, beginning at 5pm UK time.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup runs from June 11th to July 19th 2026.