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Who has qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup? How many teams will qualify for finals in Mexico, Canada and United States?
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Updated 19/11/2025 at 08:34 GMT
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How many teams will qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be hosted across Canada, Mexico and the United States? Who has qualified already? How many slots does each confederation get? The answer to these questions are below as we start to prepare for the next edition of the men's World Cup - which, for the first time, sees 48 teams play in the competition, rather than 32.
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With under a year to go until the 2026 World Cup, the 48-team tournament is starting to take shape.
Hosts Canada, Mexico and the United States were the first three teams to qualify, via an automatic berth.
Uzbekistan and Jordan have made history by reaching the World Cup for the very first time through the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) qualification process.
Japan, South Korea and Iran have also booked their places in the competition.
Defending champions Argentina became the first South American team to secure their spot in the tournament and emphatically beat bitter rivals Brazil 4-1 in qualifying to underline their title credentials.
Carlo Ancelotti's Brazil have also qualified, extending their record as the only team to play at every World Cup as they prepare for a 23rd straight appearance.
Uruguay, winners of the first World Cup in 1930, also secured their passage alongside Paraguay. Colombia joined the raft of already-qualified South American nations.
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New Zealand will be at the tournament for the first time since 2010, and will be joined by AFC members Australia, who have secured their spot at a sixth successive World Cup.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia both sealed their spots by virtue of finishing top of their respective fourth-round groups.
Meanwhile, Morocco and Tunisia became the first two nations from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to book their places in next year's tournament.
Mohamed Salah later helped Egypt to qualify with a double against Djibouti, while Riyad Mahrez scored twice as Algeria beat Somalia 3-0 to book their place at football's biggest show for the first time since 2014.
Ghana qualified for their fifth World Cup, beating Comoros 1-0 and South Africa joined them after beating Rwanda 3-0 in October.
Ivory Coast and Senegal likewise booked their spots shortly afterwards.
And Cabo Verde became the second-smallest nation to reach the World Cup finals, sealing their place with a 3-0 home win over Eswatini.
Cabo Verde is an archipelago of 10 islands in the Atlantic Ocean, with a population of just under 525,000.
In the October international break, England became the first European nation to qualify for the World Cup after beating Latvia 5-0 - and six other UEFA nations have since booked their spots.
Scotland secured passage with an incredible 4-2 win over Denmark,
They were joined by France, Croatia, Portugal, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Scotland, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland and Austria.
Curacao became the smallest nation to qualify for the World Cup following a 0-0 draw in their decisive qualifier on Tuesday, prompting the resignation of Jamaica and former England boss Steve McClaren.
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Who has qualified so far for the 2026 World Cup?
Hosts
- Canada
- Mexico
- United States of America
AFC
- Japan
- Iran
- Uzbekistan
- Jordan
- South Korea
- Australia
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
CAF
- Morocco
- Tunisia
- Egypt
- Algeria
- Ghana
- Cabo Verde
- South Africa
- Ivory Coast
- Senegal
CONCACAF
- Haiti
- Panama
- Curacao
CONMEBOL
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Ecuador
- Uruguay
- Paraguay
- Colombia
OFC
- New Zealand
UEFA
- England
- France
- Croatia
- Portugal
- Norway
- Germany
- Netherlands
- Scotland
- Belgium
- Spain
- Switzerland
- Austria
European play-offs
- Pot 1 (Seeded): Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Ukraine
- Pot 2 (Seeded): Poland, Wales, Czech Republic, Slovakia
- Pot 3 (Unseeded): Republic of Ireland, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo,
- Pot 4 (Unseeded): Romania, Sweden, North Macedonia, Northern Ireland
Inter-continental play-offs
- Bolivia
- New Caledonia
- DR Congo
- Iraq
- Jamaica
- Suriname
Which Home Nations qualified?
England sealed qualification for the 2026 tournament with a 5-0 win over Latvia in October, completing a perfect record of eight wins from eight games, with 22 goals scored and zero conceded.
Scotland joined them with a historic 4-2 win over Denmark at Hampden Park thanks to two late goals from Kieran Tierney and Kenny McLean.
Wales secured a huge 7-1 win over North Macedonia at Cardiff City Stadium in their final qualifier, booking their place as one of the seeded sides with a home semi-final in the play-offs.
The Republic of Ireland are also through to the play-offs but are unseeded, meaning they will play as the away team in their semi-final.
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In Group A, Northern Ireland have qualified for the UEFA play-offs by virtue of Nations League success.
Michael O'Neill's side will have to do it the hard way, however, as they will be in pot four having lost out to Slovakia in their quest to finish as runners-up to Germany.
How many teams will qualify for the 2026 World Cup?
This is the first World Cup that will see 48 teams qualify for the tournament after FIFA's proposal to expand the competition was approved.
Three teams will qualify directly as hosts, a further 43 teams will qualify directly, and then two more will come from the inter-confederation play-offs.
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When does the 2026 World Cup start?
The 2026 World Cup gets started on June 11, with the opening game played in Mexico City.
The final takes place on July 19 and will be held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
How many slots does each confederation get for the 2026 World Cup?
- AFC: eight direct slots and one play-off slot.
- CAF: nine direct slots and one play-off slot.
- CONCACAF: three direct slots, three host slots and two play-off slots.
- CONMEBOL: six direct slots and one play-off slot.
- OFC: one direct slot and one play-off slot.
- UEFA: 16 direct slots and zero play-off slots.
How do the inter-confederation play-offs work?
The six play-off teams are ranked according to their FIFA World Ranking, and the top two will go directly to one final each.
The four lowest-ranked teams will be drawn and face off to determine who goes through to Final A and Final B to face one of the two highest seeds.
The winners of Final A and Final B will each qualify for the finals.
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