EIGHTEEN of the 48 places at the 2026 World Cup have been decided, with Tunisia becoming the latest team to qualify.
They booked their place on September 8 with a 1-0 win at Equatorial Guinea – and more teams could join them in the coming days.
Joint-hosts Canada, Mexico and the United States were all granted automatic qualification for the World Cup.
Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, South Korea and Uzbekistan have already qualified from Asia.
Oceania’s one direct qualification spot has been taken by New Zealand.
Tunisia join Morocco as the two African teams who have so far confirmed qualification.
Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay and Colombia are the South American nations currently guaranteed a place.
Uzbekistan and Jordan will also be playing at a World Cup finals for the first time.
Teams through to 2026 World Cup
Hosts: Canada, Mexico, United States.
Asia: Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, South Korea, Uzbekistan.
Oceania: New Zealand.
South America: Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia.
Africa: Morocco, Tunisia.
How does World Cup qualifying work?
Each of Fifa’s six confederations use different methods of qualification to determine which nations out of each continent qualify for the World Cup.
Oceania is currently the only continent to have completed its direct-qualification process for next year’s World Cup.
Of the 48 teams at the tournament, three places are given to the host nations and 43 of them are earned via direct qualification from the six confederations.
The other two spots are determined via the results of the intercontinental play-offs.
South America
Brazil are the only nation to have featured at every World Cup in the competition’s history [Getty Images]
Qualifying places: Six, plus one into intercontinental play-offs
Teams already through: Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia
South American qualifying comprises a big group involving all 10 teams, playing 18 games each, and started in September 2023.
The top six all reach the World Cup, with seventh place going into the intercontinental play-offs.
The automatic spots are all decided with one game to spare – with Venezuela currently in the play-off spot, but only one point above Bolivia.
Asia
Qualifying places: Eight, plus one into intercontinental play-offs
Teams already through: Japan, Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Australia
Asian qualifying started in October 2023 with the lower-ranked teams in action.
In the third round, the top two teams in three different groups qualified automatically.
Japan, Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan and Australia have secured their spots.
UAE, Qatar, Iraq, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia are in a fourth round of qualifying and two of those will also qualify automatically, with one other side progressing into the intercontinental play-offs.
Africa
Qualifying places: Nine, plus one into intercontinental play-offs
Teams already through: Morocco, Tunisia
There are nine African groups of World Cup qualifying, each with six teams, which started in November 2023.
The top team in each group go through automatically – with Morocco and Tunisia the first two to guarantee their places.
The other current leaders are Egypt, DR Congo, South Africa, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Algeria and Ghana.
The best four runners-up go into play-offs… for the chance to compete in the intercontinental play-offs.
North, Central American and Caribbean
Qualifying places: Six (including three hosts), plus two into intercontinental play-offs
Teams already through: None through qualifying – USA, Canada and Mexico automatically as co-hosts
The Concacaf qualifying takes a different look, with three of their biggest hitters not involved as they have qualified as hosts – but still plenty of spots up for grabs.
Twelve teams are involved in a third round of qualifying which started this week.
The winners of each group go to the World Cup and the two best-ranked runners-up going into the intercontinental play-offs.
Europe
Qualifying places: 16
Teams already through: None
There are 12 groups – with the winners of each group qualifying for the World Cup and the 12 runners-up going into play-offs with the four best-ranked Uefa Nations League group winners that have not already qualified – for four extra places.
Europe is the only continent that does not have a team in the intercontinental play-offs.
Qualifying started in March – with some teams not even playing their first qualifiers until this month because of the Nations League.
The groups end in November, with the play-offs in March 2026.
Oceania
Qualifying places: One, plus one nation into intercontinental play-offs
Teams already through: New Zealand
Oceania qualifying has already ended with New Zealand beating New Caledonia 3-0 in the final.
New Zealand go through to the World Cup automatically, as a result of the expanded World Cup. Oceania usually only gets a play-off spot.
New Caledonia, a French overseas territory, will take place in intercontinental play-offs in March 2026, featuring teams from Africa, Asia, South America and North America — with two out of six teams going through. (BBC Sport)
