2026 FIFA World Cup qualification

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.

Qualification 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. The last goal of qualification was scored by Iraqi player Aymen Hussein against Bolivia.

Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan all qualified for the first time, with Curaçao becoming the smallest nation to ever qualify, while Qatar had their first successful qualifying campaign after making their debut in the previous edition as hosts.

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 the 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 will be the first tournament in which all six confederations have at least one guaranteed berth.

• Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan will all make their World Cup debuts.

• DR Congo and Haiti return to the tournament after appearing in their only previous tournament in 1974.

• Iraq returns to the tournament after appearing in their only previous tournament in 1986.

• Austria, Norway, and Scotland return 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 2010 hosts South Africa returned after last taking part in 2010. The South Africans achieved its first successful qualifying campaign since 2002.

• 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.

• Qatar advanced to the tournament through qualification for the first time, as it automatically qualified as host in 2022.

• Four-time world champions Italy missed out on their third World Cup in a row, being defeated in the European playoff finals by Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties, who themselves qualified for the first time since 2014; coincidentally, the latest in which Italy took part. Like in 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, did not qualify for the 2026 tournament.

• It will be the first time that two Caribbean nations (Curaçao and Haiti) take part in the World Cup together.

• 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 despite finishing last in Group B in the first round of their qualifying campaign.

On 9 May 2017, the FIFA Council approved the slot allocation scheme for the new 48-team final format.

Russia were suspended indefinitely on 28 February 2022 from participating in UEFA and FIFA competitions for 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, they were re-added with 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, having 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.

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.

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 single-leg 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).

On 1 August 2022, the Asian Football Confederation Executive Committee approved the qualification format for Asia's road to the 2026 World Cup, as well as the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, in preparation for the eight direct spots and the single intercontinental play-off slot allocated to the AFC by FIFA following the expansion of the FIFA World Cup to 48 teams. The draw for the first round was held on 27 July 2023 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The draw for the second round took place two hours later.

The qualification structure was as follows:

• First round: Twenty teams (ranked 27–46) played home-and-away over two legs. The ten winners advanced to the second round.
• Second round: Thirty-six teams (those ranked 1–26 and the ten first-round winners) were divided into nine groups of four teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The eighteen group winners and group runners-up advanced to the third round.
• Third round: The eighteen teams that advanced from the second round were divided into three groups of six teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The top two teams of each group qualified for the World Cup, while the third-placed and fourth-placed teams of each group advanced to the fourth round.
• Fourth round: The six teams that advanced from the third round were drawn into two groups of three teams each to play a single round-robin. The winners qualified for the World Cup, and the runners-up advanced to the fifth round.
• Fifth round: The fourth round group runners-up competed in a two-legged play-off tie that determined the Asian representation at the inter-confederation play-offs.

The winner advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.

The CAF Executive Committee announced a new African qualification format on 19 May 2023. The draw was held on 13 July 2023 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. All 54 FIFA-affiliated football associations from CAF entered qualification. Eritrea withdrew before matches began due to fears that players would seek political asylum abroad.

The qualification structure was as follows:

• First round: Teams were drawn into nine groups of six teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The winner of each group qualified for the World Cup.
• Second round: The four best-ranked group runners-up participated in a play-off to determine which team would advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.

Due to Eritrea's withdrawal from qualification resulting in differing group sizes, results from matches against sixth-place teams were discounted when ranking group runners-up.

The teams were allocated into semi-finals based on their FIFA Men's World Ranking of 17 October 2025, with the highest-ranked side taking on the lowest and the second-highest taking on the third-highest.

The winner advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.

Three teams in CONCACAF—Canada, Mexico and the United States—automatically qualified as host nations. On 28 February 2023, CONCACAF announced the qualifying format for 2026 World Cup qualification.

• First round: Four CONCACAF teams, ranked 29 to 32 based on the FIFA ranking of December 2023, were divided into two matchups to be played on a two-legged home-and-away basis. The two winners advanced to the second round.
• Second round: Thirty teams – the two winners from the first round and CONCACAF teams ranked 1 to 28 based on the FIFA ranking of December 2023 – were drawn into six groups of five teams. They played single round-robin matches (two home and two away), with group winners and runners-up advancing to the third round.
• Third round: The twelve teams that advanced from the second round were drawn into three groups of four teams. They played double round-robin home-and-away matches, with the three group winners qualifying for the World Cup. The two best-ranked runners-up advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.

On 22 August 2022, CONMEBOL petitioned FIFA to keep the qualification format which had been used since the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification, where all CONMEBOL members play home-and-away round-robin matches against each other. This was approved, with the first games of the qualifiers played in September 2023.

Before the qualification competition began, Ecuador were penalized 3 points for using falsified birth documents for Byron Castillo in the previous World Cup qualification cycle.

The 2026 World Cup marked the first time OFC was granted one guaranteed slot, as well as a possible second slot via the inter-confederation play-offs.

The qualification structure was as follows:

• First round: The four lowest-ranked teams played a three-match knockout round in September 2024. The winner, Samoa, advanced to the second round.
• Second round: The winning team from the first round joined the seven highest-ranked teams in two four-team groups in October and November 2024. The top two teams from each group advanced to the third round.
• Third round: The four teams advancing from the second round played a three-match knockout round in March 2025. The winner, New Zealand, qualified for the World Cup, and the runner-up, New Caledonia, advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.

The winner qualified for the World Cup, while the runner-up advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.

The UEFA Executive Committee announced a new European qualification format on 25 January 2023. Teams were drawn into twelve groups of four or five teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches from March to November 2025. The group winners qualified for the World Cup, while the runners-up will participate in play-off matches, for a total of 16 teams qualifying for the finals.

The qualification draw took place on 13 December 2024 in Zürich, Switzerland. Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia's national team was suspended, and their exclusion was confirmed in a circular distributed by UEFA on 11 November 2024.

• First round (group stage): Twelve groups of either four or five teams were drawn, with group winners qualifying for the World Cup.
• Second round (play-off): Sixteen teams (twelve group runners-up and the four best Nations League group winners, based on the 2024–25 Nations League overall ranking, that finished outside the top two of their qualifying group) were drawn into four play-off paths, playing two rounds of single-match play-offs (semi-finals with the seeded teams hosting, followed by finals, with the home teams drawn from the semi-final pairings). The four path winners qualified for the World Cup.

The winners of each path qualified for the World Cup.

Path A

Path B

Path C

Path D

A play-off tournament involving six teams – one each from AFC, CAF, CONMEBOL, and OFC and two from CONCACAF – was held to decide two FIFA World Cup berths. The bottom four teams in the November 2025 FIFA World Rankings were drawn into two single-elimination matches. The winners of those matches advanced to play the top two teams in a further round of single-elimination matches, and the winners qualified for the World Cup. The play-offs were held in March 2026 in Guadalajara and Monterrey in Mexico.

There were 2,527 goals scored in 899 matches, for an average of 2.81 goals per match.

16 goals

12 goals

10 goals

9 goals

8 goals

Below are goalscorer lists for all confederations and the inter-confederation play-offs:

• 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification