The picture for the 2026 FIFA World Cup is nearing completion, with 42 teams currently qualifying for the 48-team tournament.
Some of Europe’s biggest names, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, have booked their spots during this November international break, along with some of the biggest names in world football.
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The small Caribbean island nation of Curaçao will enter the 2026 World Cup as the least-populous nation to ever qualify for the major men’s soccer tournament after finishing top of their four-team group with a 0-0 draw against Jamaica on Tuesday.
Curacao will be joined by Panama and Haiti, who also qualified for the World Cup on Tuesday, from the region.
Meanwhile, Scotland qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1998 with a 4-2 victory over Denmark.
The remaining six spots will be filled by teams playing in the Intercontinental Playoffs and the UEFA Playoffs.
Al Jazeera Sports covers the next edition of the world’s premier soccer tournament.
When and where will the 2026 FIFA World Cup be held?
This tournament will be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The first match will be held in Mexico City on June 11th, and the final match will be held in New Jersey, USA, on July 19th.
The tournament expanded from 32 to 48 teams, making the 39-day event the longest in history.
When will all the teams for the 2026 FIFA World Cup be known?
FIFA’s intercontinental playoffs will be the last chance for teams around the world to qualify for next year’s tournament. The last day of that route will be March 31, 2026, less than three months until the World Cup starts.
The European qualification process will continue until March, but most of the remaining federations will have finished their continental qualification processes long before then.
What is the FIFA Intercontinental Playoff?
Once the respective federations have completed their qualification process, FIFA will offer two final spots for the top-ranked teams in each of the six continental routes that have not yet qualified.
When is the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup?
The full list of teams for the event will not be known until the end of March 2026, but the draw will take place on December 5, 2025.
42/48 ✅@Aramco | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/HQZoHdXyes
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) November 19, 2025
Where will the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw be held?
The drawing will be held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. US President Donald Trump spoke in the Oval Office of the White House, flanked by Vice President J.D. Vance and FIFA President Gianni Infantino, and confirmed the location. He also did not rule out the possibility of overseeing the lottery itself.
What format will the 2026 FIFA World Cup take?
With the number of participating teams expanded to 48, there will be 12 groups of four teams participating in the World Cup. This will result in 32 rounds and more knockout rounds compared to previous editions.
In fact, the tournament doubled in size when it was held in the United States in 1994, when only 24 teams competed.
Can Trump sway the game at the 2026 FIFA World Cup?
President Trump has been very clear and consistent about holding games in the United States, saying he will move them from cities he deems unsafe.
On September 26, when asked about relocating the games, President Trump warned, “Well, it’s an interesting question…but we’re going to make sure it’s safe.[Seattle and San Francisco]are run by radical left-wing lunatics who don’t know what they’re doing.”
How will the 2026 FIFA World Cup match stages be divided between the host countries?
Games will be held in 11 U.S. cities: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New Jersey/New York (co-host region), Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, and Seattle.
Canada will host a total of 13 games in Toronto and Vancouver. Mexico will also play 13 matches in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey.
Where will the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final be held?
The final will be hosted by the United States and will be held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Who is the defending FIFA World Cup champion?
Argentina won the last FIFA World Cup in Qatar 2022, defeating France in the final.
After overtime, the score was 3-3, and Argentina won 4-2 in the penalty shootout.
Will the weather affect the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches?
The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup was held in the United States, but the heat and accompanying thunderstorms proved to be a major problem for the tournament.
Three stadiums in Arlington, Atlanta and Houston have retractable roofs and are expected to be closed due to the summer heat, while Inglewood and Vancouver have fixed roofs.
Which teams have already qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup?
Following the latest qualifying round, here is the breakdown of the confirmed contestants from each of the six regions.
Venue: Canada, Mexico, USA
Asia: Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Uzbekistan
Africa: Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia
Europe: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland
Oceania: New Zealand
Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Curacao, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay
Which teams will qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup?
Intercontinental Playoffs: Six teams will participate in the playoffs in Mexico in March.
Two teams from participating countries will qualify. Jamaica and Suriname are from the Caribbean and Central America, Iraq from Asia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from Africa, Bolivia from South America, and New Caledonia from Oceania.
Europe: 16 teams will take part in the UEFA play-off competition, which will also be held in March, and will need to win two knockout matches to be one of the four teams to qualify.
Participating teams are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkiye, Ukraine and Wales.
