The draw for the tournament took place in Zurich this afternoon with Craig Bellamy’s side among the second seeds.
Joining Wales and Belgium in Group J are North Macedonia, Kazakhstan and Liechtenstein.
Belgium are familiar opponents for Wales, who met in qualifying for the last World Cup, where a crucial draw in the final match of the campaign was earned to clinch the runners-up spot before going on to qualify for Qatar via the play-offs. Wales faced them recently in the 2022 Nations League.
They famously beat Belgium 3-1 to reach the semi-finals of Euro 2016 under Chris Coleman, but have not won any of the subsequent four meetings.
Manager Craig Bellamy will be upbeat about the draw, particularly after avoiding the likes of European champions Spain, England, Italy and the Netherlands.
The lower-seeded teams in Group J will present logistical challenges for the Welsh and see tricky away trips to the eastern parts of Europe, Bellamy though will be confident his young side can gain the results needed to challenge the Red Devils for top spot in the group.
Domenico Tedesco’s Belgian side endured a torrid Nations League campaign and have lost four out of their last five matches. Very much a team in transition, the team who, in recent years, hit the summit of the World rankings may not be the power they once were but still have some of the best players in Europe amongst their arsenal to do damage.
Wales’ World Cup qualifying campaign will kick off in March 2025 and will conclude next November. Four-team groups kick off their qualifying campaigns in September 2025.
Sixteen European nations will qualify for the finals, which will feature 48 teams for the first time.
The winners of each group qualify automatically, with the runners-up then going into play-offs in March 2026 alongside the four best-ranked Nations League group winners who did not either win their World Cup qualifying group or finish runner-up.
Manager Craig Bellamy said:
“I’m happy with the five teams, it gets the competition going very quick, and that’s what I wanted, I wanted five teams, so that’s a real positive,” said Bellamy.
“It’s been a good period, it’s a good draw.
“I’m really looking forward to this, I’m excited to work with the group, we’re all just looking forward to it, I genuinely feel this is a group we want to go and win.
“To get Belgium is great; I lived in Brussels for three years so that’s nice, there’s few players I was involved with, like Jeremy [Doku] and Zeno Debast, so it will be nice to see them.
“It’s a team I know very well, a team I’ve watched quite a lot of especially in the last five, six years.
“North Macedonia is a different challenge, Kazakhstan we’ve never drawn before, so travel and what it will entail will be very different, Liechtenstein… I’m happy, I have to be honest, it’s a good group.
“We’re going to have to do our homework really well, and hopefully try and attack and finish top of the group.”
[Lead image: Football Association of Wales]
