The picture for the FIFA World Cup 2026 is nearing completion, as 42 teams have now qualified for the 48-team tournament.
Some European heavyweights booked their spots during this November international break – including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain – alongside some minnows of world football.
Meanwhile, Scotland have qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1998 after a wild 4-2 victory over Denmark.
The remaining six spots will be filled by teams playing in intercontinental and UEFA playoffs.
Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at the next edition of the world’s marquee football tournament.
The tournament is being staged across the United States, Canada and Mexico. The first match will be played in Mexico City on June 11, while the final will be staged in New Jersey, the US, on July 19.
Due to the expansion of the tournament – from 32 teams to 48 – the 39-day event is the longest in its history.
FIFA’s intercontinental playoffs will be the last chance saloon for teams around the world to reach next year’s event. The finale of that route will be on March 31, 2026, less than three months before the World Cup kicks off.
The European qualification process runs until March, but most of the remaining confederations will have finished their continental qualification processes long before then.
Once the respective confederations finish their qualification process, FIFA offers two final spots to be contested by the best-placed team from each of the six continental routes that have not already qualified.
Although we will not know the full list of teams for the event until the end of March 2026, the draw will take place on December 5, 2025.
The draw will take place at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC in the United States. US President Donald Trump confirmed the location while speaking in the Oval Office at the White House, flanked by Vice President JD Vance and FIFA boss Gianni Infantino. He did not rule out overseeing the draw itself.
With the expansion to 48 teams, the World Cup will now feature 12 four-team groups. That will lead to a round of 32, an extra knockout round compared with previous editions.
Indeed, the tournament has doubled in size since it was staged in the US in 1994, when only 24 teams competed.
Trump has been quite clear and consistent on the staging of games within the US, saying he will move the games from any cities that he deems to be unsafe.
On September 26, when Trump was asked about games being moved, he warned: “Well, that’s an interesting question … but we’re going to make sure they’re safe. [Seattle and San Francisco are] run by radical left lunatics who don’t know what they’re doing.”
The US will stage games in 11 places: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New Jersey/New York (joint host region), Philadelphia, Seattle, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Canada will host 13 games in total, split between Toronto and Vancouver. Mexico will also get 13 games, which will be played in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey.
The US will stage the final, which will be played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Argentina won the last edition of the FIFA World Cup, beating France in the final of Qatar 2022.
With the game level at 3-3 after extra time, Argentina won the penalty shootout 4-2.
The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup was staged in the US, and the heat and resulting thunderstorms proved to be a huge problem for the tournament.
Three stadiums – in Arlington, Atlanta, and Houston – have retractable roofs that are expected to be closed due to the summer heat, while Inglewood and Vancouver have fixed roofs.
After the latest round of qualifying matches, here is a breakdown of the confirmed contenders from each of the six regions:
Hosts: Canada, Mexico, USA
Asia: Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Uzbekistan
Africa: Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia
Europe: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland
Oceania: New Zealand
Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Curacao, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay
Seeded teams Iraq and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will receive byes to play in the two playoff finals, awaiting the winners from the semifinals.
Europe: UEFA’s playoff competition, also taking place in March, will feature 16 teams, who need to win their semifinal and final to become one of four to qualify.
The draw is as follows:
