By: Ojay Matthew
Countries around the world are in the final stage of qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This World Cup will be the first to feature 48 teams and will be hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
By the end of Friday’s games, 30 teams had already qualified. About 12 more are expected to qualify by the end of the November international window. The last six spots will be decided in March, after the World Cup draw on December 5 in Washington, D.C.
Out of the 48 total spots:
46 spots come directly from the six continental football federations
2 spots will be settled through a six-team intercontinental playoff
Below is a simple breakdown of who has qualified so far from each region.
Asia (AFC)
Asia gets 8 direct spots and 1 intercontinental playoff spot.
Already Qualified (Top teams from 3rd & 4th rounds)
Australia
Iran
Japan
Jordan
South Korea
Uzbekistan
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Still competing for the playoff spot
Iraq
UAE
(The two teams drew 1–1 in the first leg and will play the second leg in Basra.)
Africa (CAF)
Africa has 9 direct spots.
The top 4 runners-up compete in a mini-playoff to pick one team for the intercontinental playoff.
Group winners already qualified
Algeria
Cape Verde
Egypt
Ghana
Ivory Coast
Morocco
Senegal
South Africa
Tunisia
Still competing for the playoff spot
DR Congo
Nigeria
(The two teams will meet in the final of the CAF playoff.)
North & Central America + Caribbean (CONCACAF)
CONCACAF gets 6 direct spots (including USA, Canada, and Mexico as hosts) and 2 playoff spots.
Direct host spots
United States
Canada
Mexico
Group winners still to be decided
(No additional team has qualified yet.)
Teams still in the race
Costa Rica
Curacao
Haiti
Honduras
Jamaica
Panama
Suriname
Eliminated
Bermuda
El Salvador
Guatemala
Nicaragua
Trinidad and Tobago
South America (CONMEBOL)
South America gets 6 direct spots + 1 playoff spot.
Already qualified
Argentina
Brazil
Colombia
Ecuador
Paraguay
Uruguay
In the intercontinental playoff
Bolivia
Oceania (OFC)
For the first time, Oceania gets one direct World Cup spot + one playoff spot.
Qualified
New Zealand
Playoff spot
New Caledonia
Europe (UEFA)
Europe gets 16 spots.
12 group winners qualify directly
4 more spotswill come from a 16-team playoff in March
UEFA does not send any teams to the intercontinental playoff
Already qualified as group winners
Croatia
England
France
Still able to qualify
(A long list of countries still in the race)
Albania, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands, Scotland, Wales, Ukraine, Denmark, Romania, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia, Iceland, Norway, Georgia, Czech Republic, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Poland, and others.
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