# 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC)

The Oceanian section of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification process is taking place from September 2024 to March 2025. The 2026 tournament is the 16th edition of Oceanian qualifiers and marks the first time OFC has a direct qualification slot into the FIFA World Cup.

## Format

The qualification structure is as follows:
* First round: The four lowest-ranked teams in the FIFA Men's World Rankings played a three-match knockout round in September 2024. The winner advanced to the second round.
* Second round: The winning team from the first round joined the seven highest-ranked teams in two four-team groups in October and November 2024. The top two teams from each group advanced to the third round.
* Third round: The four teams advancing from the second round will play a three-match knockout round in March 2025 with the winner qualifying for the 2026 World Cup and the runner-up advancing to the inter-confederation play-offs.

## Entrants

All eleven eligible OFC nations have entered qualification.
* American Samoa
* Cook Islands
* Fiji
* New Caledonia
* New Zealand
* Papua New Guinea
* Samoa
* Solomon Islands
* Tahiti
* Tonga
* Vanuatu

## Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows.
| Round | Matchday | Date | Venue(s) |
| First round | Matchday 1 | 6 September 2024 | Samoa |
| First round | Matchday 2 | 9 September 2024 | Samoa |
| Second round | Matchday 3 | 10–12 October 2024 | Fiji and Vanuatu |
| Second round | Matchday 4 | 14–15 November 2024 | New Zealand and Papua New Guinea |
| Second round | Matchday 5 | 17–18 November 2024 | New Zealand and Papua New Guinea |
| Third round | Semi-finals | 21 March 2025 | New Zealand |
| Third round | Final | 24 March 2025 | New Zealand |
The inter-confederation play-offs will be scheduled to be played in March 2026.

## Draw

The draw for the first two rounds was held at FIFA headquarters in Switzerland on 18 July from 9:00 CEST (UTC+2). Although announced prior to their official release, the seeding for the draw was based on the FIFA Men's World Rankings of 18 July 2024 (shown in parentheses below).
For the first round, the four lowest-ranked teams competed in a single-elimination play-off to determine which team advanced to the second round. The highest-ranked team faced the lowest-ranked team and the second-ranked team faced the third-ranked team in the semi-finals, and the winners of those matches faced each other in the final.
For the second round, each group contained one team from Pot 1, two from Pot 2 and one from Pot 3 (which also included a placeholder for the first round winner).
From the July 2024 FIFA World Rankings :
| Bye to second round | Bye to second round | Bye to second round | Competing in first round |
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Competing in first round |
| New Zealand (94) Solomon Islands (141) | Fiji (153) Tahiti (158) New Caledonia (160) Vanuatu (162) | Papua New Guinea (168)First round winner | Cook Islands (186) American Samoa (187) Samoa (192) Tonga (200) |
Note: Teams in bold qualified for the third round. Teams in italics competed only in the first round.
* ↑ The first round winner was not known at the time of the draw.

## First round

First round matches were played 6–9 September 2024 in Samoa. The four lowest-ranked teams competed in a knockout series, and the winner advanced to join the seven highest-ranked teams in the second round.

### Bracket

| Matchday 1 | Matchday 1 | Matchday 2 (final) | Matchday 2 (final) |
| 6 September 2024 – Apia | 6 September 2024 – Apia |
| Cook Islands | 1 |
| Cook Islands | 1 | 9 September 2024 – Apia | 9 September 2024 – Apia |
| Tonga | 3 | 9 September 2024 – Apia | 9 September 2024 – Apia |
| Tonga | 3 | Tonga | 1 |
| 6 September 2024 – Apia | 6 September 2024 – Apia | | Tonga | 1 |
| 6 September 2024 – Apia | 6 September 2024 – Apia | Samoa (a.e.t.) | 2 |
| American Samoa | 0 | Samoa (a.e.t.) | 2 |
| Samoa | 2 | | |

### Matchday 2

The winner advanced to the second round.

## Second round

The second round took place from 10 October to 18 November 2024 with two groups of four teams playing each other once in a league format. Matches were played in Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | |
| 1 | New Caledonia | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 7 | Advance to the third round | — | — | — | 3–1 |
| 2 | Fiji | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 5 | Advance to the third round | 1–1 | — | — | — |
| 3 | Solomon Islands | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 3 | | 2–3 | 0–1 | — | — |
| 4 | Papua New Guinea | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | −3 | 1 | | — | 3–3 | 1–2 | — |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | |
| 1 | New Zealand | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 1 | +18 | 9 | Advance to the third round | — | 3–0 | 8–1 | — |
| 2 | Tahiti | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 6 | Advance to the third round | — | — | 2–0 | — |
| 3 | Vanuatu | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 11 | −6 | 3 | | — | — | — | 4–1 |
| 4 | Samoa | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 15 | −14 | 0 | | 0–8 | 0–3 | — | — |

## Third round

The third round is scheduled to take place in New Zealand on 21 and 24 March 2025. The winner will qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the runner-up will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.

### Bracket

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 21 March 2025 – Wellington | 21 March 2025 – Wellington |
| New Caledonia | |
| New Caledonia | | 24 March 2025 – Auckland | 24 March 2025 – Auckland |
| Tahiti | | 24 March 2025 – Auckland | 24 March 2025 – Auckland |
| Tahiti | | Winner semi-final 1 | |
| 21 March 2025 – Wellington | 21 March 2025 – Wellington | | Winner semi-final 1 |
| 21 March 2025 – Wellington | 21 March 2025 – Wellington | Winner semi-final 2 | |
| New Zealand | | Winner semi-final 2 | |
| Fiji | | | |

### Final

The winner qualifies for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The loser advances to the inter-confederation play-offs.

## Inter-confederation play-offs

The runner up team will join one team each from AFC, CAF, and CONMEBOL and two from CONCACAF in the inter-confederation play-offs. The teams will be ranked according to the FIFA Men's World Ranking, with the four lowest-ranked teams playing in two single-elimination matches. The winners will meet the two highest-ranked teams in another set of single-elimination matches, with the winners of these matches qualifying for the World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

## Qualified teams

The following teams from OFC qualified for the final tournament.
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup |
| TBD | Third round winners | 24 March 2025 | |

## Goalscorers

There have been 60 goals scored in 15 matches, for an average of 4 goals per match (as of 18 November 2024). Players highlighted in bold are still active in the competition.
6 goals
* Chris Wood
3 goals
* Roy Krishna
* Joseph Athale
* Elijah Just
2 goals
* Callum McCowatt
* Ben Waine
* Tommy Semmy
* Benoit Mathon
* John Alick
1 goal
* Taci Kumsuz
* Thomas Dunn
* Merrill Nand
* Georges Gope-Fenepej
* Germain Haewegene
* Jean-Jacques Katrawa
* Gérard Waia
* Tyler Bindon
* Francis de Vries
* Matthew Garbett
* Sarpreet Singh
* Marko Stamenić
* Raymond Gunemba
* Joseph Joe
* Ati Kepo
* Jefferson Faamatau
* Luke Salisbury
* Dilo Tumua
* Jarvis Vaai
* Nathan Viliamu
* Javin Alick
* Junior David
* Micah Lea'alafa
* Raphael Lea'i
* Eddy Kaspard
* Teaonui Tehau
* Christopher Kefu
* Hemaloto Polovili
* Ulafala Sonasi
* Viliami Tikoipau
* Mitch Cooper
* Bong Kalo
* Jordy Tasip
1 own goal
* Brian Kaltak (against New Zealand)
* Johnathan Spokeyjack (against Tahiti)