Türkiye beat Kosovo in Tuesday's European playoff final to secure a berth at the 2026 World Cup and a place alongside co-hosts the United States in Group D.
Kerem Aktürkoglu scored from close range early in the second half in the Kosovan capital Pristina to send Türkiye to its first World Cup since 2002.
The prize is a spot in a group with the U.S., Australia and Paraguay this summer. Türkiye will open against Australia in Vancouver before facing Paraguay in Santa Clara, California, and finally the U.S. at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
Türkiye's last trip to the World Cup ended with a surprise run to the semifinals and an eventual third-place finish.
The U.S. and Türkiye have met five teams previously, with each team winning twice. However, Türkiye came out on top when the sides last faced off in a friendly in East Hartford, Connecticut, last June.
Kosovo was hoping to qualify for the World Cup for the first time, less than 10 years since the national team was out of the international soccer family.
It was in May 2016 that Kosovo and Gibraltar were voted into FIFA as its 210th and 211th member federations. That was eight years after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia.
Kosovo had the best chance of an entertaining first half, but Türkiye goalkeeper Ugurcan Çakir pulled off a superb one-handed save to push Fisnik Asllani's strike onto the crossbar.
Türkiye got the breakthrough eight minutes into the second half. Aktürkoğlu got the finest of touches to ensure Orkun Kökçü's cross-shot went into the far bottom corner.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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