Qatar is the latest group confirmed to qualify for next year’s FIFA 2026 World Cup after the latest round of qualification.
The hosts of the 2022 edition of the global showpiece event defeated the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday to reach the final for the first time through the qualifying route.
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South Africa also made it to the play-offs after coming through a tight group with fellow African giants Nigeria in a tense final day of group stage qualifiers on the continent. This happened a day after Cape Verde qualified for the World Cup for the first time.
It will still be some time before European teams finish their qualifying groups, but some progress has already been made and the picture is becoming clearer.
Al Jazeera Sports takes a closer look at how the qualification process works around the world.
Which teams will participate in 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: United Kingdom
Oceania: New Zealand
South America: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay
Who will qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup?
Africa: Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon and Nigeria play off for the final spot on the continent. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has not yet announced the dates for these matches.
Asia: The UAE and Iraq will compete for one spot in the intercontinental play-offs over two games in the final stage of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) qualifiers in November.
Europe: 53 of Europe’s 54 teams vying for 16 spots can still qualify alongside England, with first-round matches to be played until November 18.
North, Central America and the Caribbean: Only three spots are up for grabs as the World Cup host nation gets three spots. The competition will be decided on November 18th, with Bermuda, Costa Rica, Curacao, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago advancing to the third round. The three second-place teams from each group will compete for a spot in the intercontinental playoffs.
Oceania: New Caledonia qualified for the intercontinental play-offs.
South America: Bolivia missed out on one of the six automatic spots but qualified for the intercontinental playoffs.
28/48 ✅@Aramco | #WeAre26 pic.twitter.com/eaksBnrBYM
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) October 14, 2025
Which major teams were excluded from the qualifiers?
Peru and Chile, who finished third in 1962, were the biggest teams to miss the South American qualifying round, and Venezuela was also eliminated.
Although China is not considered one of Asia’s powerhouses, it will be a shame that they failed to advance to the finals for the first time since 2002.
It would be a shame if Angola, Libya, Mali, and Namibia were also eliminated from the African qualifiers.
Indonesia, hoping to qualify for the World Cup for the second time, bravely advanced to the fourth round of the AFC qualifying round. But they will be disappointed not to be able to take another step forward in their recruitment efforts with the Dutchman, including coach Patrick Kluivert.
Bahrain, who topped the group stage of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup ahead of South Korea but were eliminated by Japan in the round of 16, will be disappointed at missing out on the opportunity to showcase their skills on the world stage. Palestine are only seconds away from advancing to the fourth round of the AFC qualifiers, and given their historic run to advance to the knockout stages in the last Asian Cup, it would be a shame that they were not able to advance at least one step further in the continental qualifiers.
When will the participating teams for the 2026 FIFA World Cup be decided?
The final 48 teams for the World Cup will not be known until less than three months before the tournament, as European qualifiers extend beyond the current group stage into March and the intercontinental play-off final is also scheduled for the same month. All eligibility ends on March 31, 2026.
When and where will the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw take place?
The World Cup draw, announced by US President Donald Trump in August, will be held on December 5th at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
President Trump made the announcement in the Oval Office alongside Vice President J.D. Vance and FIFA President Gianni Infantino, saying, “This is the biggest event in sports, probably the biggest event.” He also did not rule out the possibility that President Trump himself would oversee the lottery.
When is the 2026 FIFA World Cup scheduled to be held?
The tournament begins June 11th in Mexico City and ends with the final in New Jersey on July 19th.
