Nations that have secured spots in the FIFA World Cup 2026: Latest rundown of countries verified for the event held in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.

The 23rd FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by The United States, Canada, and Mexico, is scheduled to commence in seven months' time, in the year 2026.

Argentina, with Lionel Messi at the helm, achieved their long-awaited World Cup victory in Qatar in 2022. Since then, La Albiceleste have successfully defended their Copa America championship and are currently at the forefront of CONMEBOL's qualification campaign for the upcoming World Cup.

The 2026 tournament will be the first time 48 teams have competed at the World Cup finals, expanding from the 32-team format that was used at seven consecutive tournaments from 1998 to 2022.

This signifies a shift in the qualification criteria for teams aiming to advance from the six continental bodies: AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC, and UEFA. Consequently, what is the pathway to the 2026 World Cup?

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The qualification process for the FIFA World Cup 2026 is still underway.

With the expanded format, each confederation receives additional slots. The AFC now boasts twice the qualification spots compared to Qatar 2022, increasing from four guaranteed places to eight, and Africa will have nine participating nations, up from five.

CONCACAF's representation will at least double from its 2022 count, increasing from three to six spots. However, three of these are automatically secured by The United States, Mexico, and Canada due to their host status. Similar to the last World Cup, two additional spots will be determined through an inter-continental playoff.

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Of note, Uzbekistan and Jordan both qualified for their first-ever World Cup appearances in the summer of 2025. By finishing top two in their group in the third round of AFC qualification, they secured an automatic bid to the competition.

Cape Verde, a small island nation with a population of only 600,000, followed shortly after, securing their inaugural World Cup berth by topping their group, surpassing Cameroon.

Clubs that secured spots in the 2026 World Cup

What's the process for qualifying for the 2026 World Cup?

AFC

The AFC   commenced its vital third stage of qualification in September 2024. Eighteen nations were divided into three groups of six teams each, competing in 10 matches within a round-robin structure. The leading two teams from each of Group A, B, and C will secure direct berths to the World Cup.

Japan became the initial confirmed qualifiers from The Asian region, having already guaranteed a position within the top two of Group C by the midpoint of the March international break. Iran quickly joined them in securing their place through Group A, and Uzbekistan clinched their inaugural World Cup berth by finishing as runners-up to Iran.

Teams finishing third and fourth in their respective groups will move on to a subsequent round, divided into two three-team pools. In October 2025, each team will play every opponent within its pool once. The victors of these two pools will secure direct qualification for The World Cup. The second-place teams will then compete in a two-leg playoff in November 2025 to determine the final AFC representative for the intercontinental playoff.

CAF

In Africa, nine groups of six teams compete against each other twice, once at home and once away. After completing all 10 matches, the winner of each group will automatically qualify for The World Cup.

The four top runners-up from the initial round-robin stage advance to a playoff, and the victor proceeds to the intercontinental playoff as the CAF representative.

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CONCACAF

CONCACAF's second qualification round commenced in June 2024, featuring 30 nations divided into six quintets. Every team will face each adversary within their group one time, completing two away and two home fixtures by the phase's end in June 2025.

The top two finishers from each group will proceed to the 12-team third round, which will consist of three groups of four. Starting in September 2025, teams within each group will compete against each other at home and away. The three group victors will qualify for The World Cup, and the two highest-ranked second-place teams will enter the intercontinental playoff.

CONMEBOL

The marathon World Cup qualification round for South America remains unchanged, featuring all 10 confederation nations competing against each other twice, home and away, within a demanding league structure. 

With The World Cup now larger, qualifying has become somewhat simpler, as the top six teams will advance directly, and the seventh-place team will likely enter the intercontinental playoff as the favored side.

Argentina clinched their place at the finals thanks to a memorable 4-1 demolition of arch rivals Brazil.

OFC

For the first time ever, the OFC will have a guaranteed participant in the 2026 World Cup finals. The second round, which took place in October and November 2024, featured two groups of four teams competing for the four available spots in the third round.

The leading two teams from each second-round group will proceed to a three-game playoff scheduled for March 2025. New Caledonia secured victory over Tahiti in the initial semifinal, while New Zealand achieved a decisive 7-0 win against Fiji in the subsequent semifinal.

New Zealand secured the automatic qualification spot after a 3-0 victory in the OFC final. New Caledonia will proceed to the inter-confederation playoffs, offering them another, albeit remote, opportunity.

UEFA

The group winners from the initial format of four or five-team groups will secure twelve of UEFA's sixteen available spots. The twelve runners-up, in addition to the four best UEFA Nations League group winners who concluded their World Cup qualifying group campaigns without finishing in the top two, will advance to the playoffs.

Sixteen teams will be divided into four brackets, each featuring two single-elimination rounds. The higher-ranked teams will host the semifinal matches, and the host nation for the four finals will be determined before the games. The victors from each bracket will qualify for The World Cup. UEFA is the sole confederation not participating in the inter-continental playoff.

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Inter-continental playoff

The top two ranked teams in the six-nation playoff will receive byes. The remaining four teams will compete in a preliminary round, with the victors advancing to play one of the seeded teams for the last two World Cup spots.

The four-game playoff will serve as a World Cup test event, taking place in one or more of the host nations.

Intercontinental Playoff participants

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will take place in __PLH_month__ __PLH_day__, __PLH_year__.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is scheduled to commence on June 11, featuring co-hosts Mexico playing at the Azteca stadium, a venue that previously hosted the 1970 and 1986 World Cup finals.

MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, will host the final on July 19.  The overall span of 40 days will make this the longest World Cup in history, with the 48 finalists contesting a total of 104 matches.

The draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup will take place on __PLH_DATE__.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup draw takes place on December 5, 2025 in Washington, D.C.

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