The 2026 FIFA World Cup will feature an expanded 48-team format across Canada, Mexico, and the United States. As of November 18, 2025, 42 teams have qualified directly, with the remaining six spots to be decided through playoffs in March 2026.
The automatically qualified teams include the three co-hosts: Canada, Mexico, and the United States. From CONCACAF, Panama, Curaçao, and Haiti have also secured spots.
Europe has seen 12 teams qualify directly: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, Scotland, Switzerland, and Portugal. South America's qualifiers include Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Asia's direct qualifiers are Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Uzbekistan, and Qatar. Africa's direct qualifiers are Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia.
New Zealand is the sole direct qualifier from Oceania. Six teams will compete in an intercontinental playoff in March 2026 to claim the final two World Cup berths.
These teams are DR Congo (Africa), Iraq (Asia), Jamaica and Suriname (CONCACAF), Bolivia (South America), and New Caledonia (Oceania). All regions except Europe will be represented in this playoff, which will involve two mini-tournaments.
Europe will hold its own playoff to determine its final four World Cup representatives. Twelve European teams qualified directly, and their group runners-up, along with four other lower-ranked teams based on Nations League standings, will participate.
These 16 teams will be divided into four paths to decide the remaining four European spots. The draw for these playoffs will be structured based on FIFA rankings, with higher-ranked teams hosting lower-ranked opponents.
