Next summer all eyes will be on the United States, Mexico and Canada as the three countries host the biggest event in football: The FIFA World Cup.

But if teams want to be among the 48 that will be playing for the coveted trophy in North America, they need to get through qualifying first. Let's see how things stand for the FC Barcelona players and their respective countries as we head into the next batch of fixtures.

Spain

04/09 (9.45 pm local, 8.45pm CEST): Bulgaria v Spain – Vasil Levski National Stadium (Sofia)
07/09 (9.45 pm local, 8.45pm CEST): Turkey v Spain – Büyükşehir Belediye Stadium (Konya)

Pau Cubarsí, Pedri, Fermín Lopez, Ferran Torres, Dani Olmo and Lamine Yamal are in the squad that opens its programme this week with two away games in southeast Europe, first in Bulgaria and then in Turkey. Georgia complete the four-team group, with the winners going directly to the finals and the runners-up entering the playoffs.

Netherlands and Poland

04/09 (8.45pm CEST): Netherlands v Poland – Feyenoord Stadium (Rotterdam)
07/09 (7pm local, 6pm CEST): Lithuania v Netherlands – Darius and Girėnas Stadium (Kaunas)
07/09 (8.45pm CEST): Poland v Finland – Silesian Stadium (Chorzów)

Frenkie de Jong's Holland and Robert Lewandowski's Poland share the same group and will actually be facing each other this week in Rotterdam.

The Dutch have won both games played so far, 8-0 at home to Malta and 2-0 in Finland.

Things haven't gone quite so smoothly for the Poles, who struggled to beat Lithuania (2-0) and Malta (1-0) at home and then lost 2-1 away to the current group leaders Finland, who they now face again, this time at home.

France

05/09 (8.45pm CEST): Ukraine v France – Wrocław Stadium (Poland)
09/09 (8.45pm CEST): France v Iceland – Parc des Princes (Paris)

Jules Kounde and France are only just starting their own campaign, and in a group that also includes Azerbaijan, Iceland and Ukraine they are the strong favourites. They start by facing Ukraine in Poland due to the war in their opponent's country and then entertain Iceland at the Parc des Princes.

England

06/09 (5pm local, 6pm CEST): England v Andorra – Villa Park (Birmingham)
09/09 (8.45pm CEST): Serbia v England – Rajko Mitić Stadium (Belgrade)

This season we have a fresh country to keep an eye on. For the first time since Gary Lineker, there's an England international at Barça, Marcus Rashford.

As things stand, England fans have little to worry about, having won three out of three. Albania (2-0) and Latvia (3-0) were dispatched at home, although the fact they only just beat Andorra 1-0, in a game that was played in Barcelona, is a little worrying. At least on paper, their most difficult match in the group comes this week with the visit to Belgrade.

Denmark

05/09 (8.45pm CEST): Denmark v Scotland – Parken (Copenhagen)
08/09 (9.45pm local, 8.45pm CEST): Greece v Denmark – Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium (Piraeus)

Another team for whom things are only just getting under way is Andreas Christensen's Denmark, and they open the campaign with tricky games against Scotland and Greece. Belarus are the other side in Group C.

Brazil and Uruguay

04/09 (9.30pm local, 2.30am CEST: Brazil v Chile – Maracanã (Rio de Janeiro)
09/09 (7.30pm local, 1.30 am CEST: Bolivia v Brazil – Estadio Hernando Siles (El Alto)
04/09 (8.30pm local, 1.30am CEST): Uruguay v Peru – Estadio Centenario (Montevideo)
09/09 (8.30pm local, 1.30am CEST): Chile v Uruguay – Estadio Nacional (Santiago)

Curiously, while several European teams have yet to kick a ball, the mammoth 18-game campaigns in South America are coming to an end this week. Brazil and Raphinha have already got he job done, having ensured that they will keep alive their record of being the only country to have appeared in every single World Cup. This week they face Chile, who are already eliminated, and Bolivia, who still have a chance of pipping Venezuela to claim a playoff berth.

Uruguay and Ronald Araujo still have a job to do, but not much. They are already assured of at least the playoff, and need just one point from their games against Peru and Chile to be sure of direct passage to the finals. In fact, even if they lost those two games, there is a strong chance that they would qualify anyway.

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