2026 FIFA World Cup qualification

The **2026 FIFA World Cup qualification** determines which teams will join Canada, Mexico, and the United States as teams in the tournament. It started on September 7, 2023, with three matches in the CONMEBOL zone.

## Qualified countries

|scope="col"|Team|scope="col" data-sort-type="text"|Method of qualification|scope="col" data-sort-type="date"|Date of qualification|scope="col"|Total times qualified|scope="col"|Last time qualified|scope="col"|Current consecutive appearances|scope="col" data-sort-type="text"|Previous best performance|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Hosts|14 February 2023|3|2022|2|Group stage (1986, 2022)|||||||||
|Hosts|14 February 2023|18|2022|9|Quarter-finals (1970, 1986)|||||||||
|Hosts||12|2022|2|Third place (1930)|||||||||
|AFC third round Group C winners|20 March 2025|8|2022|8|Round of 16 (2002, 2010, 2018, 2022)|||||||||
|OFC third round winners|24 March 2025|3|2010|1|Group stage (1982, 2010)|||||||||
|AFC third round Group A winners|25 March 2025|7|2022|4||||||||||
|CONMEBOL winners|25 March 2025|19|2022|14|**Winners** (1978, 1986, 2022)|||||||||
||5 June 2025|1|—|1|—|||||||||
|AFC third round Group B winners|5 June 2025|12|2022|11|Fourth place (2002)|||||||||
||5 June 2025|1|—|1|—|||||||||
||10 June 2025|7|2022|6|Round of 16 (2006, 2022)|||||||||
|CONMEBOL fifth place|10 June 2025|23|2022|23|**Winners** (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002)|||||||||
|CONMEBOL runners-up|10 June 2025|5|2022|2|Round of 16 (2006)|||||||||
|CONMEBOL fourth place|4 September 2025|15|2022|5|**Winners** (1930, 1950)|||||||||
|CONMEBOL third place|4 September 2025|7|2018|1|Quarter-finals (2014)|||||||||
|CONMEBOL sixth place|4 September 2025|9|2010|1|Quarter-finals (2010)|||||||||
|CAF first round Group E winners|5 September 2025|7|2022|3|Fourth place (2022)|||||||||
|CAF first round Group H winners|8 September 2025|7|2022|3|Group stage (1978, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2018, 2022)|||||||||
|CAF first round Group A winners|8 October 2025|4|2018|1|First round (1934), group stage (1990, 2018)|||||||||
|CAF first round Group G winners|9 October 2025|5|2014|1|Round of 16 (2014)|||||||||
|CAF first round Group I winners|12 October 2025|5|2022|2|Quarter-finals (2010)|||||||||
|CAF first round Group D winners|13 October 2025|1|—|1|—|||||||||
|CAF first round Group C winners|14 October 2025|4|2010|1|Group stage (1998, 2002, 2010)|||||||||
|AFC fourth round Group A winners|14 October 2025|2|2022|2|Group stage (2022)|||||||||
|UEFA Group K winners|14 October 2025|17|2022|8|**Winners** (1966)|||||||||
|AFC fourth round Group B winners|14 October 2025|7|2022|3|Round of 16 (1994)|||||||||
|CAF first round Group F winners|14 October 2025|4|2014|1|Group stage (2006, 2010, 2014)|||||||||
|CAF first round Group B winners|14 October 2025|4|2022|3|Quarter-finals (2002)|||||||||
|UEFA Group D winners|13 November 2025|17|2022|8|**Winners** (1998, 2018)|||||||||
|UEFA Group L winners|14 November 2025|7|2022|4|Runners-up (2018)|||||||||
|UEFA Group F winners|16 November 2025|9|2022|7|Third place (1966)|||||||||
|UEFA Group I winners|16 November 2025|4|1998|1|First round (1938), round of 16 (1998)|||||||||
**Notes**

## Qualification process

On 9 May 2017, the FIFA Council approved the slot allocation scheme for the new 48-team final format.

### Summary of qualification

|width="100"|Confederation|width="80"|Direct slots|width="80"|slots|width="80"|Teams started|width="80"|Teams eliminated|width="80"|Teams qualified|width="130"|Qualifying start date|width="130"|Qualifying next match date|width="130"|Qualifying end date|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|colspan="9" style="background:white"||||||||||||||||||
|AFC|8|1|46|28|0|12 October 2023|20 March 2025|18 November 2025||||||||||
|CAF|9|1|53|0|0|15 November 2023|March 2025|November 2025||||||||||
|CONCACAF|3+3|2|32+3|2|0+3|22 March 2024|4 June 2025|November 2025||||||||||
|CONMEBOL|6|1|10|0|0|7 September 2023|20 March 2025|September 2025||||||||||
|OFC|1|1|11|7|0|6 September 2024|21 March 2025|24 March 2025||||||||||
|UEFA|16|0|54|0|0|21 March 2025|21 March 2025|31 March 2026||||||||||
|_Play-offs_|2||(6)|0|0|March 2026|March 2026|March 2026||||||||||

## Infobox (international football competition)

- **tourney name**: 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification
- **num teams**: 206
- **confederations**: 6
- **top scorer**: Almoez Ali
(12 goals)
- **image**: FIFA logo without slogan.svg
- **prevseason**: 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, 2022
- **nextseason**: _2030_
- **updated**: 19 November 2024