Northern Ireland to take on Italy in Bergamo

Northern Ireland’s World Cup play-off semi-final against Italy in March will be staged in Bergamo, it was confirmed today.

The New Balance Arena, known as the Stadio di Bergamo in UEFA and FIFA competitions, is the home of Serie A club Atalanta and has a capacity of 23,439.

The FIFA World Cup 2026 European play-off semi-final between Northern Ireland and Italy is set to be staged there on 26 March. The venue was confirmed by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).

The city of Bergamo is located in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately 25 miles north-east of Milan.

If Northern Ireland defeat the Italians they will play the winners of the semi-final between Wales and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the final on 31 March – and that game will also be away from home.

Ticket information for the game in Bergamo will follow in due course.

Meanwhile, the draw for next year’s World Cup in Canada, Mexico and USA is being staged in the USA tomorrow (5 December).

Northern Ireland, Italy, Wales and the Bosnians are in Path A of the European play-offs. In tomorrow’s draw for the group stages at the global tournament the winners (TBC) of the four European paths (A to D) will all be in Pot 4.

The 12 groups at the World Cup will include one team from each of four pots. The other pots for the group stages (based on FIFA’s ranking system) feature:

Pot 1 – Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Portugal, Brazil, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany

Pot 2 – Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia

Pot 3 – Panama, Norway, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa

Pot 4 features Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti and New Zealand along with the winners (TBC) of the four European paths and the winners (TBC) of two inter-confederation play-offs

The draw is being staged at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, beginning at 5pm GMT.

It will be broadcast live across the BBC - on iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and app and Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup runs from 11 June to 19 July.