Breakdown of teams and groups after the final playoffs for the FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
Published April 1, 2026
Iraq’s qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup completes the 48-nation lineup for the tournament, which will be hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The Mesopotamian Lions defeated Bolivia 2-1 on Tuesday to win the second final of the FIFA playoff tournament in Mexico. In the first final, the Democratic Republic of the Congo defeated Jamaica 1-0.
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In other matches, Turkje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sweden and the Czech Republic were the final four teams to qualify for the European World Cup.
Widely regarded as the world’s most famous sporting event, the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the biggest in history. There will be 48 countries participating instead of the usual 32, and 104 matches will be played at 16 venues across the three host countries.
Argentina will aim to defend the trophy lifted by iconic captain Lionel Messi at the 2022 Qatar tournament. Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan will be participating for the first time.
The first World Cup match dates back to 2010, when Mexico faced South Africa in Mexico City on June 11, a reenactment of the opening match. Soccer fans will be hoping that this year’s opening goal will match the screamer scored by Lawrence Tshabalala of then-host South Africa.
Mexico will be in Group A, which includes South Korea and the Czech Republic, and will be one of the toughest of the 12 groups.
Team USA is tied with Australia, Paraguay and Tolkien.
Canada also faces the difficult task of breaking out of the group consisting of Switzerland, Qatar and Bosnia.
The breakdown of the 48 teams in 12 groups is as follows:
Group A:
Mexico South Africa South Africa Czech Republic
Group B:
Canada Switzerland Qatar Bosnia and Herzegovina
Group C:
Brazil Morocco Scotland Haiti
Group D:
America Australia Paraguay Torquie
Group E:
Germany Ecuador Ivory Coast Curacao
Group F:
Netherlands Japan Tunisia Sweden
Group G:
Belgium Iran Egypt New Zealand
Group H:
Spain Uruguay Saudi Arabia Cape Verde
Group I:
France Senegal Norway Iraq
Group J:
Argentina Austria Algeria Jordan
Group K:
Portugal Colombia Uzbekistan DRC
Group L:
England Croatia Panama Ghana
