World Cup Qualifiers: Weekend round-up
World Cup qualifying continued over the weekend, with plenty of Ligue 1 McDonald's stars in action. We take you through the main takeaways from another busy weekend of international action.
The Faroe Islands cause upset
Perhaps the standout result from Europe was the Faroe Islands' surprise win over Cezchia. The nation of just 55,000 people won both of their matches over the international break. Czechia have a population 202x larger than the Faroe Islands, but they succumbed to a shock defeat on Sunday. That was despite Lyon forward Adam Karabec getting on the scoreline for the Eastern European nation. Fellow Gone Pavel Sulc was also on the teamsheet for Czechia.
Elsewhere, Hungary comfortably beat Armenia with Le Havre's Loic Nego on the teamsheet for the former. Portugal, meanwhile, left it very late to beat the Republic of Ireland. Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty in the encounter and that almost proved costly. However, in a team containing PSG duo Nuno Mendes and Vitinha, Portugal did get the job done in second-half injury time thanks to a winner from Ruben Neves. Another Parisien, Goncalo Ramos, also featured in that one, coming off the bench in the final stages.
And there was also a win for Denmark, despite the absence of Marseille midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. The Scandinavian nation beat Greece 3-1, with OM's Matt O'Riley and Monaco forward Mika Biereth coming off the bench in that victory.
Ghana secure qualification
In Africa, Ghana secured their place in next summer's World Cup, to be held in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. They realistically needed just one win during this international break (due to their superior goal difference over Madagascar) in order to secure their qualification, and they did just that, beating the Comoros 1-0 thanks to a goal from Tottenham's Mohammed Kudus.
There were also Ligue 1 McDonald's stars in action during that success. Monaco's Mohammed Salisu started the encounter, as did Rennes' Alidu Seidu. There was also an appearance of the bench for Nice's Kojo Peprah Oppong, who, after his strong start to the Ligue 1 McDonald's campaign, secured his first call-up to the national team.
Ghana is going to the 2026 World Cup! 🇬ðŸ‡ðŸ”¥ pic.twitter.com/BaG8QEkKSa
— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) October 12, 2025
Madagascar, the only team that could prevent Ghana's qualification, lost 4-1 to Mali over the weekend. Auxerre's prolific forward Lassine Sinayoko netted a brace in that game, but it wasn't enough for them to leapfrog Madagascar into second.
Oppong wasn't the only Nice defender in action on the African continent over the weekend. Juma Bah, on loan with Le Gym from Manchester City, was also in action and he started and scored in Sierra Leone's 2-1 win over Djibouti.
And finally, Burkina Faso beat Ethiopia 3-1 on Sunday. Hervé Koffi, on loan at Angers from Lens, was between the sticks for Burkina Faso as they won 3-1 thanks to a hat-trick from Pierre Landry Kaboré, who came off the bench to net his three goals.
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