2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (Citius, Altius, Fortius)

The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification process will decide 45 of the 48 teams which will play in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with the hosts Canada, Mexico and United States qualifying automatically. All 208 remaining FIFA member associations are eligible to enter the qualifying process.
== Qualified teams ==
Team 	Qualified as	Previous appearances in tournament1 	Previous bestperformance
Canada 	Host nation 	2 (1986, 2022) 	Group stage (All)
Mexico 	Host nation 	17 (1930, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1968, 1970, 1978, 1986, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022)	Quarter-finals (1970, 1986)
United States	Host nation 	11 (1930, 1934, 1950, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2022) 	Third place (1930)
:1 Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
== Team allocation ==
Since the tournament would be expanded for 48 teams, the slot allocation would be changed, giving more slots to particularly Asian and African nations.
Confederation	Available slots 	
AFC 	8(+1 play-off spot) 	
CAF 	9(+1 play-off spot) 	
CONCACAF 	3+3(+2 play-off spot)	
CONMEBOL 	6(+1 play-off spot) 	
OFC 	1(+1 play-off spot) 	
UEFA 	16 	
Total 	45+3 	
== AFC (Asia) ==
The Asian qualifiers, for the first two rounds in particular, will also act as qualification for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup.
=== First round ===
20 lowest ranked AFC teams (according to the as of July 2023) will compete in this round, playing two-legged home-and-away match in one window, with first leg being played at seeded team's home. Winners of each matches will advance to the second round. The matches are scheduled to take place on 12 and 17 October 2023.
All matches are simulated, with some algorithm and writers's bias are also applied.
Team 1 	 	Team 2 	1st leg	2nd leg
Afghanistan 	1–4	Mongolia 	1–2 	0–2
Maldives 	2–3	Bangladesh 	1–1 	1–2
Singapore 	5–1	Guam 	2–1 	3–0
Yemen 	1–0	Sri Lanka 	1–0 	0–0
Myanmar 	2–1	Macau 	1–0 	1–1 (a.e.t.)
Cambodia 	2–1	Pakistan 	1–0 	1–1
Chinese Taipei	5–1	Timor Leste	3–1 	2–0
Indonesia 	7–0	Brunei 	4–0 	3–0
Hong Kong 	5–0	Bhutan 	3–0 	2–0
Nepal 	3–2	Laos 	0–0 	3–2
=== Second round ===
The 10 winners from the first round will join the 26 best-ranked AFC teams (according to the as of July 2023) to compete in this round. These 26 teams will be divided into 9 groups, where each groups will have 4 teams. The teams will play home-and-away matches in a format of round-robin tournament. Group winners and runners-up will advance to the third round and will also qualify to the 2027 AFC Asian Cup directly. While the rest of the teams will advance to the third round of Asian Cup qualifiers. The matches are scheduled to run from November 2023 to June 2024. 
All matches are simulated, with some algorithm and writers's bias are also applied.
==== Group A ====
{| class = "wikitable" width = "390px" style="text-align:center"	 								
 	Team 								
1	Qatar 								
2	India 								
3	Kuwait 								
4	Mongolia								
==== Group B ====
{| class = "wikitable" width = "390px" style="text-align:center"	 								
 	Team 								
1	Japan 								
2	Syria 								
3	North Korea								
4	Myanmar 								
==== Group C ====
{| class = "wikitable" width = "390px" style="text-align:center"	 								
 	Team 								
1	South Korea								
2	China PR 								
3	Thailand 								
4	Singapore 								
==== Group D ====
{| class = "wikitable" width = "390px" style="text-align:center"	 								
 	Team 								
1	Oman 								
2	Kyrgyzstan 								
3	Malaysia 								
4	Chinese Taipei								
==== Group E ====
{| class = "wikitable" width = "390px" style="text-align:center"	 								
 	Team 								
1	Iran 								
2	Uzbekistan 								
3	Turkmenistan								
4	Hong Kong 								
==== Group F ====
{| class = "wikitable" width = "390px" style="text-align:center"	 								
 	Team 								
1	Iraq 								
2	Vietnam 								
3	Philippines								
4	Indonesia 								
==== Group G ====
{| class = "wikitable" width = "390px" style="text-align:center"	 								
 	Team 								
1	Saudi Arabia								
2	Jordan 								
3	Tajikistan 								
4	Cambodia 								
==== Group H ====
{| class = "wikitable" width = "390px" style="text-align:center"	 								
 	Team 								
1	United Arab Emirates								
2	Bahrain 								
3	Yemen 								
4	Nepal 								
==== Group I ====
{| class = "wikitable" width = "390px" style="text-align:center"	 								
 	Team 								
1	Australia 								
2	Palestine 								
3	Lebanon 								
4	Bangladesh								
== CAF (Africa) ==
Work in progress.
== CONCACAF (North America) ==
Work in progress.
== CONMEBOL (South America) ==
Work in progress.
== OFC (Oceania) ==
Work in progress.
== UEFA (Europe) ==
Work in progress.
== Inter-confederation play-offs ==
Category:FIFA World Cup (Citius, Altius, Fortius)