Qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup began on Oct. 12, 2023, when minor nations from the Asian confederation played their first round of matches. Myanmar’s Lwin Moe Aung scored the very first goal in a 5-1 win over Macau.
All confederations are drawing to a close, but we’re a long way from discovering the list of 45 nations who will join hosts United States, Mexico and Canada to make up the full field of 48.
Japan were the very first country to qualify on March 20.
QUALIFIED (10/45): Japan, New Zealand, Iran, Argentina, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Australia, Brazil, Ecuador
What can be decided this week
South America: Wraps up its qualifying programme with a double header of games on Thursday and Tuesday. Up for grabs are three automatic places at the finals, plus one spot in the inter-confederation playoffs.
Europe and Concacaf: Qualifying, which ends in November, is still at an early stage and no country will book their place.
Africa: There are still four rounds to be played in the main group stage, but we could find out our first qualifiers next week.
Asia: The first six countries have booked their places, with the next round starting in October.
Oceania: Process complete, with New Zealand through and New Caledonia in the playoffs.
As in recent qualifying competitions, all 10 nations play each other home and away. The top six nations qualify directly to the finals. The seventh-placed team will go into the inter-confederation playoffs in March 2026.
The first qualifiers took place in September 2023, with the league phase to be completed with this double-header in September.
Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador have taken the first three places.
What can be decided this week
Uruguay (4th, 24 points) have the best possible fixtures, facing the bottom two in the table. They need a point from a home match against Peru (9th, 12 points) and a trip to Chile (10th, 10 points). They will also qualify regardless if Venezuela fail to win in Argentina.
Just like Uruguay, Paraguay (5th, 24 points) need one point. They host Ecuador (2nd, 25 points) and go to Peru but again a Venezuela loss will secure a place.
In short, unless Venezuela get a victory in Buenos Aires two more slots will be locked.
That still leaves sixth a little more open, at least.
Colombia (6th, 22 points) will qualify with one win, and they host Bolivia then go to Venezuela — the two nations who can overtake them. Colombia can also qualify on Thursday with a draw vs. Bolivia if Venezuela lose in Argentina — so the odds are short that all the automatic spots will be sealed with a game to go.
Can anyone crash the top six?
Venezuela (7th, 18 points) have that trip to Argentina in their first game and will have to pull off a shock and hope Colombia do not beat Bolivia. That would set up a huge final-day meeting between Venezuela and Colombia.
Bolivia (8th, 17 points) have to win their two matches (the second is at home at altitude vs. Brazil), and they also need Colombia to lose to Venezuela and Venezuela to fail to win in Argentina.
In reality, it’s probably a battle between Venezuela and Bolivia for seventh and the playoff spot. And that could be tight with both having matches against Argentina and Brazil.
Peru have a very small chance of crashing seventh if they win in Uruguay and at home to Paraguay. It would also need Venezuela to lose both games, and Bolivia pick up no more than one point.
– Check out the fixtures and results | Latest table
Qualifying finally began on March 21 when most of the European teams who are not in UEFA Nations League (UNL) action played their first matches.
There are 55 European nations, although 54 will compete as Russia remain suspended due to the invasion of Ukraine.
There are 12 groups of four or five teams, playing home and away matches. The group stage qualifying process continues with double-headers in September and October, and it’s then completed in November.
The 12 group winners will qualify directly for the World Cup, with the 12 runners-up entering the playoff system.
What can be decided this week
There are two rounds of fixtures, with the teams who were in the Nations League finals only just playing their first games — and that means we’re still a way off discovering our first qualifiers.
– Check out the latest fixtures and results here | Tables
PLAYOFFS
The final four places at the World Cup will be determined via the UEFA playoffs, to be played in March 2026. There is no path to the World Cup through FIFA’s inter-confederation playoffs.
The UEFA playoffs involve 16 teams: the 12 runners-up plus the four best-ranked group winners from the UNL, who did not finish in the top two in World Cup qualifying. This creates four routes, each with four teams featuring a one-legged semifinal and a final for a place at the World Cup.
The priority order for the four World Cup playoff places through the UNL is: Spain, Germany, Portugal, France, England, Norway, Wales, Czechia, Romania, Sweden, North Macedonia, Northern Ireland, Moldova, San Marino
Of the 14 teams to win their UNL groups, 10 of those were in Pot 1 or 2 for the World Cup qualifying draw — so on ranking would finish in the top two of their group. If that comes to pass, North Macedonia, Northern Ireland, Moldova and San Marino would get a playoff place.
Seeding:
Pot 1: World Cup qualifying group runners-up with the best four records
Pot 2: As above, teams fifth to eighth
Pot 3: As above, teams ninth to 12th
Pot 4: UEFA Nations League teams
Semifinals:
Pot 1 vs. Pot 4
Pot 2 vs. Pot 3
There were 54 FIFA-affiliated nations in the draw.
However, Eritrea subsequently withdrew. Congo, in the same group, were suspended by FIFA on Feb. 6 due to government interference, though they had lost all three group games at the time.
Round 1: The teams are in eight groups of six nations, and one group of four (with Eritrea and Congo removed.)
The nine group winners qualify for the World Cup.
This stage began in November 2023 and will be completed with rounds to be played in September and October.
What can be decided this week
Egypt have a chance to punch their ticket from Group A. They host Ethiopia on Friday and travel to second-placed Burkina Faso on Tuesday. Victories in both games are guaranteed to take them to the World Cup.
No team can book their spot from Group B, but there are two huge games. On Friday it’s Senegal (2nd, 12 points) vs. Sudan (3rd, 12 points). And then on Tuesday it’s DR Congo (1st, 13 points) vs. Senegal.
South Africa have the chance to book their place from Group C if they win in Lesotho on Friday and at home to Nigeria on Tuesday, but they will need other results to go their way involving Benin and Rwanda.
Cape Verde Islands are top of Group D and could qualify if they get three points in Mauritius and then win at home to second-placed Cameroon. However, they would need Cameroon to lose at home to Eswatini.
In Group E, Morocco are almost there and will qualify if they get more points than second-placed Tanzania this week.
Gabon won 4-0 in the Seychelles on Wednesday, so no team can make it from in Group F. There’s a huge game on Tuesday as Gabon host Ivory Coast, who are two points behind with a game in hand (vs. Burundi on Friday).
Algeria can qualify from Group G this week. They have a three-point lead over Mozambique going into games at home to Botswana on Thursday and in Guinea on Monday. Mozambique would have to pick up no more than two points.
In Group H, Tunisia hold top spot by four points over Namibia and it could be all over this week. Tunisia host Liberia on Thursday, then visit Equatorial Guinea on Monday. However, Tunisia do host Namibia in the final group game.
Ghana are three points ahead of Comoros in Group I and there’s a small chance the Black Stars could make it this week from a trip to Chad (Thursday) and a home game against Mali (Monday). However, it could easily go down to the final day meeting between the top two on the final day.
– Check out the latest fixtures and results here | Latest tables
Round 2: The four best runners-up will enter playoffs (two semifinals and a final) to decide which one country will go to the inter-confederation playoffs. This stage will be played in November 2025.
Usually, Concacaf would have six automatic places in qualifying — but for the 2026 finals three of the six are taken up by the hosts. That leaves three places to be won, plus two spots in the inter-confederation playoff path.
Concacaf saw 32 nations enter the race to make the finals.
Round 1: The four lowest-ranked Concacaf nations battled it out in two-legged ties. Anguilla and British Virgin Islands eliminated Turks and Caicos Islands and U.S. Virgin Islands respectively, both on penalties.
Round 2: The top 28-ranked nations, plus the two winners from Round 1, were drawn into six groups of five teams. Teams played each other only once, rather than home and away. This stage was played in two blocks, in June 2024 and June 2025.
The six group winners and six group runners-up moved on to Round 3.
Advanced: Bermuda, Costa Rica, Curaçao, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago
Round 3: The 12 remaining teams were drawn into three groups of four teams. This phase will be played in September, October and November. The group winners will qualify for the World Cup, with the two runners-up with the best record going on to take part in the inter-confederation playoffs.
Group A: Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala, Suriname
Group B: Jamaica, Curaçao, Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda
Group C: Costa Rica, Honduras, Haiti, Nicaragua
– Check out the fixtures and results | Latest tables
What can be decided this week
The third round only kicks off on Thursday, so we’ve a way to go yet.
This is by some distance the most complicated route to the World Cup, with a layered qualifying process featuring a dual group stage to find the eight automatic qualifiers. But the main part will be done and dusted in June.
Round 1: The 20 lowest-ranked nations played two-legged ties in October 2023. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore and Yemen advanced.
Round 2: Those 10 winners joined the 26 best-ranked nations. The 36 teams were drawn into nine groups of four teams, with the top two nations going through to Round 3. This stage began in November 2023 and was completed in June 2024.
Advanced: Australia, Bahrain, China, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, North Korea, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan
Round 3: We’re now left with 18 nations, drawn into three groups of six teams. Matches began in September 2024 and the round is completed on Tuesday.
The group winners and runners-up took the first six places at the 2026 World Cup and their campaign is complete.
Japan became the first team to qualify for the World Cup on March 20, followed by Iran, Jordan, South Korea, Uzbekistan and Australia.
– Check out the results | Final tables
Round 4: The six teams in this stage were drawn into two groups of three. They will play each other once, so two matches, in one host country in October.
Group A: Qatar (hosts), United Arab Emirates, Oman
Group B: Saudi Arabia (hosts), Iraq, Indonesia
The group winners take the final two automatic places at the World Cup.
The two runners-up continue on to Round 5.
Round 5: A two-legged tie in November 2025 to earn the place in the inter-confederation playoffs.
All 11 members of the OFC region took part.
Round 1: The four lowest-ranked nations played a knockout format (two semis and a final) in Samoa in September 2024.
American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga were in this round. Samoa beat Tonga 2-1 in the final to advance.
Round 2: Samoa and the seven top-ranked nations were drawn into two groups of four nations, with matches played in October and November 2024. Games were held in Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.
The top two countries in each group — New Caledonia, Tahiti, New Zealand and Fiji — went on to Round 3.
– Check out the results here | Final tables
Round 3: The four remaining countries then played a one-legged knockout format (two semis and a final) in New Zealand in March 2025.
Semifinals, March 21
New Caledonia 3-0 Tahiti
New Zealand 7-0 Fiji
Final, March 24
New Caledonia 0-3 New Zealand
As winners of the final, New Zealand qualified for the World Cup, with losers New Caledonia moving onto the inter-confederation playoffs.
Inter-confederation playoffs (2 places)
The playoffs, to be held in March 2026, will determine the final two qualifiers.
Six countries will take part. Each of the five confederations (apart from UEFA) will provide one country. The host confederation (so for this edition Concacaf) receives a second slot.
1 Africa
1 Asia
2 Concacaf
1 Oceania (New Caledonia)
1 South America
The two nations with the best FIFA World Ranking will be seeded and go straight into one of the two finals.
The four other countries will be drawn to play a semifinal, feeding through to play a seed for one of the two places at the World Cup.
The playoffs are due to be held in one of the World Cup host nations as a test event.
