The FIFA World Cup 2026 is set to be the World Cup never seen before in its tournament history. Not only the competition would be the biggest ever with an incredible 48 nations participating but the tournament will be hosted by three countries Canada, Mexico and the USA for the first time. The tournament will take place from June 11 to July 19, 2026, with the number of games increasing from 64 to 104. There will be a record 12 groups in the tournament with a new Round of 32 stage introduced in the knockout phase. This format change is the first the tournament has gone through since 1998 when the 32-team format was adopted.
With the format change, the qualifiers for the World Cup have also transformed with each confederation getting additional slots for the tournament. The CONCACAF received three direct slots with the host slot for 2026 not taken into consideration. AFC will have six teams qualifying directly for the finals with CONMEBOL having eight automatic spots. Nine teams from Africa are getting direct tickets to the tournament second only to UEFA who will have 16 teams going to the World Cup, 12 directly and the rest from the UEFA playoffs. The six teams in the inter-confederation playoff will comprise one team from each confederation, two from CONCACAF, but none from Europe.
Due to the different periods of the qualifiers conducted by each confederation, some teams had the chance to seal qualification quicker than the rest more than a year before the tournament in June 2026. CONMEBOL was the first confederation to begin its qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in September 2023, only a year later than the previous edition in Qatar, followed by AFC and others. UEFA was the last to begin its qualifiers owing to the Nations League season.
Here are the teams that have qualified for the tournament so far:
Hosts
Canada
Canada ended a long 36-year wait to qualify for a World Cup making it to the 2022 edition hosted in Qatar. However, Alphonso Davies and his national teammates won’t have to wait long to taste the finals again as they secured a berth in the 2026 World Cup as one of its hosts alongside Mexico and the United States. Canada will host or co-host the men’s World Cup for the first time having hosted the women’s tournament in 2015. The Canucks are placed in Group B1 of the 2026 World Cup as one of the co-host slots.
Mexico
Unlike Canada, this will be the third time World Cup finals matches will take place in Mexico having hosted it in 1970 and 1986. They became the first country to do so in the tournament and are co-hosting it this time. El Tri has been a mainstay in the competition and will make a ninth straight appearance, 18th overall. They only failed to qualify on four occasions in the tournament history. Mexico will have three venues hosting the finals Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara.
United States
Much of the action for the 2026 World Cup will take place in the United States, which will host the men’s tournament for the first time since 1994. The USA has been preparing for the competition for a while now having hosted the Copa America in 2024 and set to organise the expanded FIFA Club World Cup this year. It can potentially host the inter-confederation playoffs next year as well. The matches organised by the USA will be played across 11 stadiums including the final in New Jersey. The USA national team will participate in the World Cup for the 11th time and hopes to make it a big one.
AFC
The AFC made a significant change to the format of their qualifiers, introducing four rounds. Eight teams from Asia will directly qualify for the World Cup from now. The top two teams from each of the three groups in the third round make it to the finals. Teams finishing third and fourth will get another shot entering the fourth round where the two group winners make it through. The runners-up from the two groups will fight against each other over two legs to decide the team entering the inter-confederation playoffs.
Japan
Japan became the first team to qualify for the World Cup 2026 without losing a single game in the qualifiers. Carrying the vibe from their remarkable showing in the last World Cup, the Blue Samurais swept through the second round without conceding a single goal before claiming the top spot in the third round dominating over Australia and Saudi Arabia. By miles, they were the best team in the qualifiers, leading the chart in almost every sector and sealing a place in their eighth straight World Cup more than a year in March 2025 before the tournament in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. They will enter their eighth straight finals after making their World Cup debut in 1998. Japan are carrying an excellent 12-game unbeaten run, hoping to maintain the streak in the last set of qualifiers in June to enter the finals with good form.
Iran
Asian heavyweights Japan will be a team to watch in the tournament but Iran will also be interested in making a mark. They secured an early qualification to the World Cup after Japan only days later. Like them, Team Melli brushed aside the second round of the qualifiers alongside Uzbekistan facing them again in Round 3. Iran maintained their unbeaten streak in this round taking six wins out of eight games and while they could not defeat the Uzbeks in the four meetings, a late equaliser from Mehdi Taremi in the 2-2 draw in the last clash sent them to the finals. Iran will be appearing for the seventh World Cup in their history and the fourth in a row in 2026. However, their tournament participation might be uncertain due to the USA’s potential travel ban on the Middle Eastern state.
OFC
OFC has one direct slot and one spot in the inter-confederation playoffs in the new format for the World Cup. The winner of the third round of the qualifiers enters the finals directly while the runners-up goes to the playoffs.
New Zealand
After a wait of 16 years, New Zealand will grace the World Cup stage with the OFC receiving a direct slot in tournament history after the format change. The winners of the OFC qualification will no longer enter the inter-confederation playoffs resulting in the All Whites no longer requiring to beat a team from a different confederation, having lost to Costa Rica last time, to book a place in the finals. Being the highest-ranked nation and by far the strongest team in their region, New Zealand can qualify for every World Cup from now. Darren Bazeley’s side crushed all their qualifying opponents, starting with the group stage where they won all three games scoring 19 goals and conceding just once. Top-scorer Chris Wood's hat-trick inspired a 7-0 semi-final demolition of Fiji helping them reach the final, where they secured a 3-0 win over New Caledonia with a prudent second-half display to enter the premier competition. This will be the third appearance in the FIFA World Cup for New Zealand since their debut in 1982.
CONMEBOL
Following the increase in teams for the World Cup, the CONMEBOL qualifiers now feature six direct qualification slots with one additional slot entering the inter-confederation play-off.
Argentina
Also making an early qualification after the games in March 2025 are the World Cup defenders in Argentina. The 2022 winners in Qatar made a solid display in the CONMEBOL qualifiers for the 2026 edition and secured their place in the finals with four games to spare. They guaranteed their spot in the top six after Uruguay’s goalless draw against Bolivia but would have done anyway thrashing arch-rivals Brazil 4-1 in front of the home support. Argentina secured 31 points from 14 matches, registering 10 wins and losing thrice. They were the best-scoring team with 26 goals and just eight conceded in that period. With the prime contributors for the 2022 World Cup success unchanged, Lionel Scaloni is leading a title-winning squad in the hope of retaining the trophy in what is turning out to be the last World Cup for Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi.