2026 FIFA World Cup qualification

The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification will decide the 45 teams that will join hosts Canada, Mexico, and the United States at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Qualification began on 7 September 2023 with three matches of the CONMEBOL zone played that day. The first goal of the qualification series was scored by Colombian player Rafael Santos Borré against Venezuela.
On 30 March 2017, the Bureau of the FIFA Council (composed of the FIFA president and the presidents of each of the six confederations) proposed a slot allocation for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The recommendation was submitted for the ratification by the FIFA Council.
On 9 May 2017, two days before the 67th FIFA Congress, the FIFA Council approved the slot allocation in a meeting in Manama, Bahrain. This includes an intercontinental play-off tournament involving six teams to decide the last two FIFA World Cup spots.
The ratification of slot allocation also gives the OFC a guaranteed berth in the final tournament for the first time in FIFA World Cup history: the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the first tournament in which all six confederations have at least one guaranteed berth.
Notes
On 9 May 2017, the FIFA Council approved the slot allocation scheme for the new 48-team final format.
Russia were suspended indefinitely on 28 February 2022 from participating in UEFA and FIFA competitions due to their country's invasion of Ukraine. A circular distributed by UEFA on 11 November 2024 stated 192 group stage matches would take place, confirming Russia's exclusion from the tournament.
Eritrea withdrew from qualification prior to playing any matches, reportedly due to concerns that players would seek political asylum if allowed to travel overseas.
Congo were suspended on 6 February 2025 due to government interference in FECOFOOT operations. While no announcement regarding their status in the tournament has been released, CAF have cancelled their remaining matches.
Each confederation is responsible for its own qualification tournament, which will consist of at least one round of competition using the following formats (Regulations Article 11.3):
In the round-robin and tournament formats, the tiebreaker criteria are as follows (Regulations Article 11.5):
Should two or more teams still have equal rank after criteria 1–3 are applied, then the following criteria are used:
If the tournament is being held in a single host nation or in neutral territory, then criterion 7 will not be applied (Regulations Article 11.6).
In the home-and-away knockout format, the team scoring more goals on aggregate wins the tie and advances. If the aggregate score is level, then 30 minutes of extra time will be played. If the score is still level at the end of extra time, the away goals rule will not be applied and the winners will be decided by a penalty shoot-out (Regulations Article 11.9). In the single-leg knockout format, the team scoring more goals in a single match wins and advances. If the teams are tied after regulation, then extra time will be played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score is still level (Regulations Article 11.10).
On 1 August 2022, the Asian Football Confederation Executive Committee approved the qualification format for Asia's road to the 2026 World Cup, as well as the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, in preparation for the eight direct spots and the single intercontinental play-off slot allocated to the AFC by FIFA following the expansion of the FIFA World Cup to 48 teams. The draw for the first round was held on 27 July 2023 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The draw for the second round took place two hours later.
The qualification structure is as follows:
Sri Lanka were suspended in January 2023 and they did not appear in the draw information the AFC released in early July. However, they were re-added with the condition that their federation hold elections at least ten days before qualification starts.
The CAF Executive Committee announced a new African qualification format on 19 May 2023.
The draw was held on 13 July 2023 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. All 54 FIFA-affiliated football associations from CAF entered qualification. However, Eritrea withdrew before matches began. Congo were suspended on 6 February 2025 due to government interference and their remaining matches were cancelled. No announcement has yet been made on how the withdrawal and suspension will affect the ranking of second-placed teams.
The qualification structure is as follows:
Neither CAF nor FIFA have made an official announcement on how Eritrea's withdrawal or Congo's suspension will affect the rankings of the group runners-up.
Three nations in CONCACAF—Canada, Mexico and the United States—automatically qualified as host nations. On 28 February 2023, CONCACAF announced the qualifying format for 2026 World Cup qualification.
On 22 August 2022, CONMEBOL petitioned FIFA to keep the qualification format which had been used since the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification, where all CONMEBOL members play home-and-away round-robin matches against each other. This was approved, with the first games of the qualifiers played in September 2023.
Before the qualification competition began, Ecuador were deducted 3 points for falsifying birth documents for Byron Castillo in the previous World Cup qualification cycle.
2026 marks the first time OFC will be granted one guaranteed slot in the World Cup, as well as a possible second slot via the inter-confederation play-offs.
The qualification structure is as follows:
The UEFA Executive Committee announced a new European qualification format on 25 January 2023. Teams will be drawn into twelve groups of four or five teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches from March to November 2025. The group winners will qualify for the World Cup, while the runners-up will participate in play-off matches, for a total of 16 teams qualifying for the finals.
The qualification draw took place on 13 December 2024 in Zürich, Switzerland. Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia's national team is currently suspended, and their exclusion was confirmed in a circular distributed by UEFA on 11 November 2024.
A play-off tournament involving six teams – one each from AFC, CAF, CONMEBOL, and OFC and two from CONCACAF – will be held to decide the last two FIFA World Cup berths. The bottom four teams in the FIFA World Rankings will be drawn into two single-elimination matches. The winners of those matches will advance to play the top two teams in two single-elimination matches, and the winners will qualify for the World Cup. The play-offs will be held as a test event in one or more of the host nations.
There have been 1,353 goals scored in 498 matches, for an average of 2.72 goals per match (as of 25 March 2025). Players highlighted in bold are still active in the competition.
12 goals
10 goals
9 goals
8 goals
7 goals
6 goals
Below are goalscorer lists for all confederations: