2026 World Cup Playoff Matches: Complete TV and Streaming Guide

On the final day of March, the last six berths in the 2026 World Cup will be filled across a marathon of playoff football stretching from evening into early morning. Italy, a nation that has won the tournament four times yet missed the last two editions, faces the prospect of an unprecedented third consecutive absence — a reckoning that frames the broader human drama of sport: that greatness is never permanently owned, only temporarily held. For a dozen nations, today is the threshold between participation in the world's largest stage and the long silence of watching from outside.