The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification decided the 45 teams that joined hosts Canada, Mexico, and the United States at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The qualifying process began on 7 September 2023 with three matches of the CONMEBOL zone played that day. The first goal of the qualification series was scored by Colombian player Rafael Santos Borré against Venezuela. Qualification ended on 31 March 2026.
Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan all qualified for the first time, with Curaçao becoming the smallest nation to ever qualify with a population of just 158,000, while Qatar had their first successful qualifying campaign after making their debut in the previous edition as hosts, and Iraq had the longest qualifying campaign, playing 21 matches over a 28-month period to qualify for the World Cup.
Slot allocation On 30 March 2017, the Bureau of the FIFA Council (composed of the FIFA president and the presidents of each of the six confederations) proposed a slot allocation for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The recommendation was submitted for ratification by the FIFA Council.
On 9 May 2017, two days before the 67th FIFA Congress, the FIFA Council approved the slot allocation in a meeting in Manama, Bahrain. This included an intercontinental play-off tournament involving six teams to decide the last two FIFA World Cup spots.
The ratification of slot allocation also gave the OFC a guaranteed berth in the final tournament for the first time in FIFA World Cup history; as such, the 2026 FIFA World Cup became the first tournament in which all six confederations had at least one guaranteed berth.
Qualified teams
TeamMethod ofqualificationDate ofqualificationTotaltimesqualifiedLasttimequalifiedCurrentconsecutiveappearancesPrevious bestperformance Hosts 14 February 2023 3 2022 2 Group stage (1986, 2022) Hosts 14 February 2023 18 2022 9 Quarter-finals (1970, 1986) Hosts 12 2022 2 Third place (1930) AFC third round Group C winners 20 March 2025 8 2022 8 Round of 16 (2002, 2010, 2018, 2022) OFC third round winners 24 March 2025 3 2010 1 Group stage (1982, 2010) AFC third round Group A winners 25 March 2025 7 2022 4 Group stage (1978, 1998, 2006, 2014, 2018, 2022) CONMEBOL winners 25 March 2025 19 2022 14 Winners (1978, 1986, 2022) 5 June 2025 1 1 data-sort-value="10-0000" 5 June 2025 1 1 data-sort-value="10-0000" AFC third round Group B winners 5 June 2025 12 2022 11 Fourth place (2002) 10 June 2025 7 2022 6 Round of 16 (2006, 2022) CONMEBOL fifth place 10 June 2025 23 2022 23 Winners (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002) CONMEBOL runners-up 10 June 2025 5 2022 2 Round of 16 (2006) CONMEBOL sixth place 4 September 2025 9 2010 1 Quarter-finals (2010) CONMEBOL fourth place 4 September 2025 15 2022 5 Winners (1930, 1950) CONMEBOL third place 4 September 2025 7 2018 1 Quarter-finals (2014) CAF Group E winners 5 September 2025 7 2022 3 Fourth place (2022) CAF Group H winners 8 September 2025 7 2022 3 Group stage (1978, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2018, 2022) CAF Group A winners 8 October 2025 4 2018 1 First round (1934), group stage (1990, 2018) CAF Group G winners 9 October 2025 5 2014 1 Round of 16 (2014) CAF Group I winners 12 October 2025 5 2022 2 Quarter-finals (2010) CAF Group D winners 13 October 2025 1 1 data-sort-value="10-0000" AFC fourth round Group A winners 14 October 2025 2 2022 2 Group stage (2022) AFC fourth round Group B winners 14 October 2025 7 2022 3 Round of 16 (1994) CAF Group B winners 14 October 2025 4 2022 3 Quarter-finals (2002) CAF Group C winners 14 October 2025 4 2010 1 Group stage (1998, 2002, 2010) CAF Group F winners 14 October 2025 4 2014 1 Group stage (2006, 2010, 2014) UEFA Group K winners 14 October 2025 17 2022 8 Winners (1966) UEFA Group D winners 13 November 2025 17 2022 8 Winners (1998, 2018) UEFA Group L winners 14 November 2025 7 2022 4 Runners-up (2018) UEFA Group F winners 16 November 2025 9 2022 7 Third place (1966) UEFA Group I winners 16 November 2025 4 1998 1 Round of 16 (1998) UEFA Group A winners 17 November 2025 21 2022 19 Winners (1954, 1974, 1990, 2014) UEFA Group G winners 17 November 2025 12 2022 2 Runners-up (1974, 1978, 2010) UEFA Group B winners 18 November 2025 13 2022 6 Quarter-finals (1934, 1938, 1954) UEFA Group C winners 18 November 2025 10 1998 1 UEFA Group E winners 18 November 2025 17 2022 13 Winners (2010) UEFA Group H winners 18 November 2025 9 1998 1 Third place (1954) UEFA Group J winners 18 November 2025 15 2022 4 Third place (2018) CONCACAF third round Group A winners 18 November 2025 2 2018 1 CONCACAF third round Group B winners 18 November 2025 1 1 data-sort-value="10-0000" CONCACAF third round Group C winners 18 November 2025 2 1974 1 UEFA play-offs Path A winners 31 March 2026 2 2014 1 Group stage (2014) UEFA play-offs Path B winners 31 March 2026 13 2018 1 Runners-up (1958) UEFA play-offs Path C winners 31 March 2026 4 2002 1 Third place (2002) UEFA play-offs Path D winners 31 March 2026 10 2006 1 Runners-up (1934, 1962) Inter-confederation Pathway 1 play-off winners 31 March 2026 2 1974 1 Group stage (1974) Inter-confederation Pathway 2 play-off winners 31 March 2026 2 1986 1 Group stage (1986)
Qualified teams facts Debutants and returnees Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan all made their World Cup debuts. Qatar advanced to the tournament through qualification for the first time, as it automatically qualified as host in 2022. DR Congo and Haiti returned to the tournament after appearing in their only previous tournament in 1974. Iraq returned to the tournament after appearing in their only previous tournament in 1986. Austria, Norway, and Scotland returned to the tournament after last appearing in 1998. Turkey qualified for the first time since finishing third in 2002. Czech Republic qualified for the first time since 2006. New Zealand, Paraguay, and South Africa (2010 World Cup host) returned after last taking part in 2010. South Africa advanced to the tournament through qualification for the first time since 2002, while New Zealand was the lowest ranked team to qualify, ranked 85th. Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Ivory Coast qualified for the first time since 2014. The Bosnians achieved their first successful qualification process for a major tournament since the 2014 World Cup. Colombia, Egypt, Panama, and Sweden made a return after missing out in 2022.
Absentees Italy missed out after being defeated in the European playoff final by Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties, becoming the first former champion to miss out on three consecutive World Cups. Similar to 2018 and 2022, Italy was the only former champion that did not qualify. Chile, who last qualified in 2014, failed to advance for the third consecutive time, in a similar way to Italy, being the second time the country did not qualify to three consecutive World Cups after failing from 1986 to 1994. Nigeria, who last qualified in 2018, failed to advance after losing to DR Congo on penalties in the final match of the CAF play-offs. This marked the first time the country failed to qualify for consecutive World Cups since before their first successful qualification in 1994. Cameroon, Costa Rica, Denmark, Poland, Serbia, and Wales, all of whom qualified in 2022, also did not qualify for the 2026 tournament.
Other Uzbekistan became the first country from Central Asia to take part in the FIFA World Cup. Iraq's successful qualification campaign for the 2026 World Cup was considered one of the longest ever by a national team, spanning 21 matches over a period of 28 months. This was the first time that two Caribbean nations (Curaçao and Haiti) qualified for the World Cup. This was the first time that eight Arab nations (Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia) qualified for the World Cup, an increase from four teams in 2018 and 2022. Sweden advanced to the tournament via the play-offs, becoming the first European nation to qualify for the World Cup after only reaching the play-offs through the UEFA Nations League. As of 1 April 2026, the highest ranked team not to qualify was Italy (ranked 12th), while the lowest ranked team that did qualify was New Zealand (ranked 85th).
Qualification process
On 9 May 2017, the FIFA Council approved the slot allocation scheme for the new 48-team final format.
Summary of qualification
ConfederationDirect slotsChange from 2022 slotsTeams startedTeams eliminatedTeams qualifiedQualifying start dateQualifying end dateAFC 8 +3 1 46 37 9 12 October 2023 18 November 2025CAF 9 +4 1 53 43 10 15 November 2023 16 November 2025CONCACAF 3+3 (hosts) +3 2 32+3 (hosts) 29 3+3 (hosts) 22 March 2024 18 November 2025CONMEBOL 6 +2 1 10 4 6 7 September 2023 9 September 2025OFC 1 +1 1 11 10 1 6 September 2024 24 March 2025UEFA 16 +3 0 54 38 16 21 March 2025 31 March 2026Play-offs 2 — (6) (4) (2) 26 March 2026 31 March 2026Total 45+3 (hosts) +16 6 206+3 (hosts) 161 45+3 7 September 2023 31 March 2026
Suspensions and withdrawals
Russia were suspended indefinitely on 28 February 2022 from participating in UEFA and FIFA competitions due to the country's invasion of Ukraine. A circular distributed by UEFA on 11 November 2024 stated 192 group stage matches would take place, confirming Russia's exclusion from the tournament.
Sri Lanka were suspended in January 2023 for an unspecified reason, and they did not appear in the draw information the AFC released in early July. However, the suspension was lifted on the condition that their federation would hold elections at least ten days before qualification would begin.
Eritrea withdrew from qualification on 10 November 2023, prior to playing any matches, due to concerns that players would seek political asylum if allowed to travel overseas.
Congo were suspended on 6 February 2025 for government interference in Congolese Football Federation operations. No announcement regarding their status was immediately available, and CAF initially cancelled their remaining matches. The suspension was lifted by FIFA on 14 May 2025, and Tanzania and Zambia were awarded 3–0 victories by forfeit.
Format Each confederation was responsible for its own qualification tournament, which consisted of at least one round of competition using the following formats (Regulations Article 11.3): A double round-robin (or "league") format in which each team in a group played all other teams in their group twice – once at home and once away. A single round-robin format in which each team in a group played all other teams in their group once, with the venues either drawn at random or assigned by the confederation with the agreement of the playing associations. A knockout format in which each team in a round played one other team over two legs – once at home and once away. With FIFA's permission, a tournament held in one of the participating nations or in neutral territory. With FIFA's permission, a single-leg knockout format.
Tiebreakers In the round-robin and tournament formats, the tiebreaker criteria were as follows (Regulations Article 11.5):
Should two or more teams still have equal rank after criteria 1–3 were applied, then the following criteria were used:
If the tournament were held in a single host nation or in neutral territory, then criterion 7 would not be applied (Regulations Article 11.6).
In the home-and-away knockout format, the team scoring more goals on aggregate won the tie and advanced. If the aggregate score were level, then 30 minutes of extra time would be played. If the score were still level at the end of extra time, the away goals rule would not be applied and the winners would be decided by a penalty shoot-out (Regulations Article 11.9). In the knockout format, the team scoring more goals in a single match wins and advances. If the teams were tied after regulation, then extra time was played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score was still level (Regulations Article 11.10).
Confederation qualification AFC