Belgium will kick off their World Cup 2026 qualifying bid when they travel to Skopje for Friday's meeting with North Macedonia. The hosts are already two games into their qualifying campaign, having beaten Liechtenstein and drawn with Wales over the first couple of matchdays.
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The hosts have never qualified for a World Cup before, but hopes are high after a promising 2024. Riding the wave of their Nations League success, where they topped League C with 16 points from six games, North Macedonia will be eager to build on that momentum. Their only previous taste of major tournament football came at Euro 2020, and this new qualifying cycle presents a golden opportunity to raise the bar.
On the other side, Belgium are looking to hit the reset button under new manager Rudi Garcia, who stepped in following Domenico Tedesco’s exit. The Red Devils stumbled at Euro 2024, bowing out in the Round of 16, and things only got worse in the Nations League, where four defeats in six games saw them land in the relegation playoff zone in Group A2.
North Macedonia are dreaming of reaching their first-ever World Cup finals, with their only previous major tournament appearance taking place at Euro 2020.
They carried significant momentum into their 2026 qualifying campaign after they collected 16 points from six matches in the UEFA Nations League to win promotion from League C in the final few months of 2024.
North Macedonia picked up from where they left off to kick off World Cup qualifying bid with a commanding 3-0 home win over Liechtenstein in March.
However, they were denied another victory in their meeting with Wales, as Bojan Miovski saw his 91st-minute effort cancelled out by David Brooks' 96th-minute equaliser in a dramatic 1-1 draw, leaving North Macedonia level on four points with the Dragons in Group J.
While they missed out on a precious victory, the result did at least extend their unbeaten run to eight matches, meaning that they have gone a year since losing to the Czech Republic in a friendly in June 2024.
In fact, they have not lost a competitive match since they fell to a 5-2 defeat to Italy in Euro 2024 qualifying in November 2023, but they will be aware that their impressive unbeaten run could be put under threat by a Belgium team that are in eighth place in the FIFA world rankings - 59 places higher than North Macedonia.
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đź”´ STREAMING==â–şâ–ş CLICK HERE TO WATCH LIVE
The hosts have never qualified for a World Cup before, but hopes are high after a promising 2024. Riding the wave of their Nations League success, where they topped League C with 16 points from six games, North Macedonia will be eager to build on that momentum. Their only previous taste of major tournament football came at Euro 2020, and this new qualifying cycle presents a golden opportunity to raise the bar.
On the other side, Belgium are looking to hit the reset button under new manager Rudi Garcia, who stepped in following Domenico Tedesco’s exit. The Red Devils stumbled at Euro 2024, bowing out in the Round of 16, and things only got worse in the Nations League, where four defeats in six games saw them land in the relegation playoff zone in Group A2.
North Macedonia are dreaming of reaching their first-ever World Cup finals, with their only previous major tournament appearance taking place at Euro 2020.
They carried significant momentum into their 2026 qualifying campaign after they collected 16 points from six matches in the UEFA Nations League to win promotion from League C in the final few months of 2024.
North Macedonia picked up from where they left off to kick off World Cup qualifying bid with a commanding 3-0 home win over Liechtenstein in March.
However, they were denied another victory in their meeting with Wales, as Bojan Miovski saw his 91st-minute effort cancelled out by David Brooks' 96th-minute equaliser in a dramatic 1-1 draw, leaving North Macedonia level on four points with the Dragons in Group J.
While they missed out on a precious victory, the result did at least extend their unbeaten run to eight matches, meaning that they have gone a year since losing to the Czech Republic in a friendly in June 2024.
In fact, they have not lost a competitive match since they fell to a 5-2 defeat to Italy in Euro 2024 qualifying in November 2023, but they will be aware that their impressive unbeaten run could be put under threat by a Belgium team that are in eighth place in the FIFA world rankings - 59 places higher than North Macedonia.