{"id":236221,"date":"2026-03-31T22:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T22:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/31\/socceroos-full-world-cup-group-confirmed-as-aussie-holdout-dealt-brutal-reality-check\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T22:04:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T22:04:00","slug":"socceroos-full-world-cup-group-confirmed-as-aussie-holdout-dealt-brutal-reality-check","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/31\/socceroos-full-world-cup-group-confirmed-as-aussie-holdout-dealt-brutal-reality-check\/","title":{"rendered":"Socceroos\u2019 full World Cup group confirmed as Aussie holdout dealt brutal reality check"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Socceroos\u2019 full 2026 World Cup group was confirmed on Wednesday as Turkey qualified after Kerem Akturkoglu\u2019s goal secured a win away to Kosovo.<\/p>\n

Turkey was the victor in their European play-off final, shattering their hosts\u2019 dream of appearing at the tournament for the first time.<\/p>\n

Get all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

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Akturkoglu diverted Orkun Kokcu\u2019s shot into the net in the 53rd minute in Pristina for the only goal of the game, ensuring Turkey will go to their first World Cup since reaching the semi-finals in 2002.<\/p>\n

Their players, including captain Hakan Calhanoglu of Inter Milan, Real Madrid\u2019s Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz of Juventus, waved giant Turkish flags as they went across to celebrate at full-time in front of the travelling support.<\/p>\n

Vincenzo Montella\u2019s team will go into Group D at the World Cup, along with co-hosts the United States, Paraguay and Australia.<\/p>\n

They will begin their campaign against Australia in Vancouver on June 13.<\/p>\n

Turkey is ranked 22 in the world, while Kosovo is 78th. <\/p>\n

Their qualification comes along with that of Bosnia and Herzegovina who astonishingly beat Italy on penalties<\/a>, condemning the four-time world champions to their third-straight missed qualification. <\/p>\n

READ MORE: Italy\u2019s \u2018worst nightmare comes true\u2019 as Azzurri miss World Cup… AGAIN<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

\u2018WHAT HAPPENED?!\u2019: Socceroos\u2019 rivals down England as fans turn on stars in WC audition flop<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

That result has added significance for Australia as Sydneysider Christian Volpato continues to reject a Socceroos jersey in his bid to play for the Azzur<\/a>ri.<\/p>\n

For the second-straight World Cup, the 22-year-old appears set to snub a spot in Australia\u2019s squad in favour of pushing for a spot in the Italian set-up, even though the nation now won\u2019t be at the 48-team competition.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Turkey shaded a close-fought game low on goalmouth action and secured victory early in the second half as a Yildiz cutback from the left was met by Kokcu before Fenerbahce striker Akturkoglu made sure.<\/p>\n

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The Socceroos\u2019 full 2026 World Cup group was confirmed on Wednesday.<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Montella\u2019s side are ranked 22nd in the world and reached the quarter-finals at Euro 2024, but this will only be Turkey\u2019s third ever appearance at the World Cup — they went to the 1954 tournament before coming third 24 years ago in South Korea and Japan.<\/p>\n

They finished second in European qualifying Group E behind Spain, holding the Spanish to a draw away from home, before beating Romania 1-0 at home in their play-off semi-final last week.<\/p>\n

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Infantino confirms Iran to play in USA | 00:50<\/p>\n

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Kosovo, ranked 78th, were targeting a first ever World Cup appearance, having only been accepted as FIFA members a decade ago.<\/p>\n

They had finished second behind Switzerland in qualifying Group B, notably beating Sweden home and away, before coming from behind twice to defeat Slovakia 4-3 away in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

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Turkey’s players celebrate after winning at the end of the FIFA World Cup 2026 European qualification final football match between Kosovo and Turkey.<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Socceroos\u2019 full 2026 World Cup group was confirmed on Wednesday as Turkey qualified after Kerem Akturkoglu\u2019s goal secured a win away to Kosovo. Turkey was the victor in their European play-off final, shattering their hosts\u2019 dream of appearing at the tournament for the first time. Get all the latest football news, highlights and analysis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":236222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[1800,1641,83,1736,10742,37519,27953,2064,1567,85,1429,71539,14378,71533,55882,68860,149,4054,1940,1425,18443,22410,71394,5250,2443,71538,2458,5035,48962,49306,1626,1533,1809,1427,1728,32159,71526,3143,5429,472,2390,2457,2902,900,1019,18058,2023,1792,37514,1847],"class_list":{"0":"post-236221","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-asia","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","12":"tag-bosnia-and-herzegovina","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-brutal-reality-check","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-eastern-asia","17":"tag-england","18":"tag-europe","19":"tag-european-play-off-final","20":"tag-european-qualification","21":"tag-european-qualifying-group","22":"tag-fans-turn","23":"tag-fifa-series","24":"tag-football-news","25":"tag-football-world","26":"tag-fox-sports","27":"tag-getty-images-inc","28":"tag-goalmouth-action","29":"tag-group-d-sa","30":"tag-hakan-calhanoglu","31":"tag-internazionale-milano-f-c","32":"tag-iran","33":"tag-italian-set-up","34":"tag-italy","35":"tag-japan","36":"tag-kenan-yildiz","37":"tag-kosovo","38":"tag-new-south-wales","39":"tag-north-america","40":"tag-northern-america","41":"tag-northern-europe","42":"tag-oceania","43":"tag-paraguay","44":"tag-qualification-final-football","45":"tag-real-madrid-c-f","46":"tag-south-america","47":"tag-south-korea","48":"tag-southern-asia","49":"tag-southern-europe","50":"tag-spain","51":"tag-sweden","52":"tag-sydney","53":"tag-travelling-support","54":"tag-turkey","55":"tag-united-states-of-america","56":"tag-vancouver","57":"tag-western-asia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}