Denmark National Team Form
Second place in a group featuring Scotland, Greece and Belarus earned a spot in the play-offs. Denmark came close to qualifying for the World Cup directly, but they missed out on top spot after a painful defeat away to the Scots (2:4) in the decisive match. That ended the national team’s five-match unbeaten run in World Cup qualifying (3 wins, 2 defeats). On top of that, they conceded more in that one game than in the previous five matches in the competition combined (3 goals). At the same time, Denmark have scored at least two goals in five World Cup qualifying matches. It is also worth noting that the national team last played in World Cup play-offs in 2017, when they beat Ireland 5:1 on aggregate across two legs.
- All five of Denmark’s previous World Cup qualifying matches were high-scoring.
- The national team’s home unbeaten run in this tournament stands at 12 matches (8 wins, 4 draws).
- The team have scored in seven of their last eight home matches in World Cup qualifying.
Potential Denmark Lineup (4-2-3-1)
Mads Hermansen – Alexander Bah, Lukas Hojsberg, Oliver Provstgaard, Joakim Maehle – Morten Hjulmand, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg – Gustav Isaksen, Victor Froholdt, Anders Dreyer – Rasmus Hojlund.
Defender Joakim Andersen is suspended. Goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, defenders Andreas Christensen, Patrick Dorgu, Rasmus Kristensen and Jannik Vestergaard, as well as midfielder Philip Billing, have not joined the squad due to injuries.
North Macedonia National Team Form
The team only earned the right to compete in the play-offs thanks to finishing top of their Nations League group, and it should be noted that their opponents there were Armenia, Latvia and the Faroe Islands. As for World Cup qualifying, North Macedonia only finished third, behind Belgium and Wales. The national team lost just one of eight matches, but that sole defeat was a painful one: in the final round, the team somehow lost to Wales by an eye-watering 1:7 scoreline. By comparison, the North Macedonians had conceded only three goals across the previous seven World Cup qualifying matches. In the previous edition of the tournament, the national team also took part in the play-offs. On that occasion, they caused a major upset by beating Italy (1:0), but then lost away to Portugal (0:2).
- North Macedonia have scored in seven of their last eight World Cup qualifying matches.
- The national team kept a clean sheet in six of their previous eight away matches in this tournament.
- At least two goals were scored in seven of the team’s last nine matches in World Cup qualifying.
There was a change of head coach over the winter, with Goce Sedloski now in charge instead of Blagoja Milevski.
Potential North Macedonia Lineup (4-4-2)
Stole Dimitrievski – Gjoko Zajkov, Darko Velkovski, Visar Musliu, Sebastian Herrera – Tihomir Kostadinov, Enis Bardi, Isnik Alimi, Andrej Stojcevski – Elif Elmas, Bojan Miovski.
Match Officials
Felix Zwayer (Germany)
Matches – 21 (international matches, 2025-2026);
Yellow cards shown (including second yellows) – 90;
Yellow cards per match – 4.3;
Red cards shown – 9;
Fouls per match – 21;
Penalties – 48%.
















