The 2026 World Cup has 39 of its 48 teams defined. This means that 81.25% of the places in the competition are filled, a number that will jump to 87.5% this Tuesday (18), with the definition of three classifieds from Concacaf, the confederation of North America, Central America and the Caribbean).
The remaining six places will be filled in March, in two repechage tournaments. There will be an exclusively European competition, with four places. It’s a global dispute, without Europeans, with two places. This will close the list of teams that will be at the World Cup, to be played in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Europe already has 12 guaranteed teams. This Tuesday, it was the turn of Spain, Scotland, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium to secure their places. On Monday (17), Germany and the Netherlands had already qualified, after victories over Slovakia and Lithuania, respectively.
Croatia, France, Norway and Portugal also confirmed their participation in the World Cup in the current FIFA Data. England were the first European team to secure a place in the tournament, in October.
Another 16 teams will still compete in the European playoffs, between March 26th and 31st, which will give four more places for the World Cup.
This repechage tournament will feature the 12 teams that finished second in their respective qualifying groups: Slovakia, Kosovo, Denmark, Ukraine, Turkey, Ireland, Poland, Bosnia, Italy, Wales, Albania and the Czech Republic.
The four best-ranked teams in the Nations League that did not come first or second in their respective groups in the Qualifiers will complete the European playoff: Sweden, Romania, North Macedonia and Northern Ireland.
The 16 teams will play a knockout format tournament, with two rounds. The four survivors will complete the list of representatives from the Old Continent.
The European playoff takes place separately from the global process. In the world repechage, also in March, six teams will take action, in one of the three World Cup host countries, to be defined. One representative from South America (Bolivia), one from Oceania (New Caledonia), two from Concacaf (to be defined), one from Asia (Iraq) and one from Africa (Democratic Republic of Congo) will be in contention.
The teams will be divided into two groups, based on the FIFA (International Football Federation) ranking, with two finals. Each of the two best-positioned teams will already be in a decision. The other teams will have to play in a semi-final to reach the game that counts for a spot in the World Cup. All clashes will be defined in a single game.
Ended in September, the South American Qualifiers have already defined the six classifieds: Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador and Paraguay. Seventh placed in the regional qualifier, Bolivia will compete in the repechage.
For Oceania, New Zealand secured the only direct spot, sending New Caledonia to the play-offs.
From Concacaf, three of the six vacancies were filled by the host countries: the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Honduras, Curaçao and Suriname lead their respective groups and only depend on themselves in their matches against Costa Rica, Jamaica and Guatemala, respectively, this Tuesday, at 10pm (Brasília time), to guarantee a direct place. Jamaica and Panama are currently the two best runners-up.
In Asia, Iraq beat the United Arab Emirates this Tuesday and guaranteed the continent’s place in the playoff.
The Asian teams classified directly are Japan — the first country to qualify through the Qualifiers —, South Korea, Iran, Australia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, in addition to newcomers Uzbekistan and Jordan.
From the African continent, the Democratic Republic of Congo beat Nigeria on penalties on Monday and will go to the play-offs. Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Cape Verde qualified directly — the smallest country in territorial extension to qualify for the competition.
The World Cup will take place from June 11th to July 19th. The group stage draw is scheduled for December 5th.
The World Cup will have 104 matches. In the group stage, there will be 12 brackets with four teams each. The top two in each group advance, with the 32 teams now facing each other in knockout matches.
Teams classified for the World Cup
Asia (8)
Saudi Arabia
Australia
South Korea
Iran
Japan
Jordan
Qatar
Uzbekistan
South America (6)
Argentina
Brazil
Colombia
Ecuador
Paraguay
Uruguay
Europa (12)
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Scotland
Spain
France
Netherlands
England
Norway
Portugal
Switzerland
North America (3 defined, 3 to go)
Canada (headquarters)
United States (headquarters)
Mexico (headquarters)
Africa (9)
South Africa
Algeria
Cape Verde
Ivory Coast
Egypt
Gana
Morocco
Senegal
Tunisia
Oceania (1)
New Zealand
Play-off selections
European repechage – 16 in contention (4 places)
Albania
Bosnia
Denmark
Slovakia
Ireland
Northern Ireland
Italy
Kosovo
North Macedonia
Wales
Poland
Czech Republic
Romania
Sweden
Türkiye
Ukraine
World repechage – 6 in contention, 2 remaining (2 places)
Bolivia
Iraq
New Caledonia
Democratic Republic of the Congo
