{"id":1825,"date":"2025-11-19T18:44:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T10:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/?p=1825"},"modified":"2025-11-19T18:44:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T10:44:31","slug":"these-are-the-qualified-teams-for-the-2026-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/19\/these-are-the-qualified-teams-for-the-2026-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"These are the qualified teams for the 2026 World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The road to the 2026 World Cup has only just begun. With three countries as hosts – the United States, Mexico and Canada – and in the first tournament with up to 48 teams, we take a look at which teams are mathematically qualified for a tournament that will begin on 11th June and end on 19th July 2026. Up to 29 national teams have earned their ticket on sporting merit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is already a <\/strong>World Cup<\/a> feeling in the air now <\/strong>that there is less than a year to go<\/strong> before the next tournament begins, which will take place in 2026<\/strong> across three countries: the United States, Mexico and Canada. These are the first teams to qualify for a competition<\/strong> that will feature a major change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first time since the tournament was created, the World Cup will include 48 national teams<\/strong>. The number rises from the 32 that competed in Qatar in 2022 to 48, divided into 12 groups of four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The top two from each group, along with the eight best third-placed sides<\/strong>, will progress to the last 16. The tournament will run from 11 June to 19 July 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With three teams already qualified as hosts<\/strong>, there are 45 spots<\/strong> up for grabs: 16 for UEFA, 9 for CAF, 8 for AFC, 6 for CONMEBOL, 3 for CONCACAF and one for OFC. Japan <\/strong>became the first team to qualify<\/strong> on sporting merit through the Asian route, followed by New Zealand in Oceania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next team to book their ticket were Iran<\/strong>, who grabbed an 83rd-minute equaliser <\/strong>against Uzbekistan<\/strong>, enough to seal their place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uzbekistan <\/strong>themselves, as well as Jordan<\/strong> and South Korea<\/strong>, have also secured their AFC spots during this June international window, with Australia <\/strong>joining them at the end of the third round of Asian qualifying. Brazil <\/strong>and Ecuador <\/strong>have also met their targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Argentina<\/strong>, the reigning world champions, also accelerated towards the next World Cup. The Albiceleste, hours before playing the Superclasico against Brazil<\/strong>, sealed qualification thanks to a draw<\/strong> between Bolivia <\/strong>and Uruguay<\/strong>. Lionel Scaloni’s side are the first CONMEBOL team to qualify<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Africa, Morocco<\/a> opened the chapter<\/strong> by claiming the 17th ticket for next summer’s tournament. Walid Regragui’s team defeated Niger 5-0 with a brace<\/strong> from Ismael Saibari<\/strong> and goals from Ayoub El Kaabi<\/strong>, Hamza Igamane<\/strong> and Azzedine Ounahi<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tunisia <\/strong>were the second to secure their place<\/strong> after a late 94th-minute Ben Romdhane<\/strong> goal against Equatorial Guinea<\/strong>. Egypt <\/strong>followed, confirming qualification with a match to spare after beating Djibouti<\/strong>, while Algeria <\/strong>sealed their passage with a comfortable win<\/strong> over Somalia <\/strong>a day later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghana <\/strong>claimed the fifth CAF spot by beating Comoros 1-0<\/strong> in the final match of the qualifying campaign. Cape Verde<\/strong> deserve a chapter of their own<\/strong>, having topped Group D in Africa with 23 points to secure their first-ever World Cup qualification<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa<\/strong> also returned to the World Cup after 15 years away, beating Rwanda 3-0 <\/strong>to win their group and book their spot in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Senegal<\/strong> and the Ivory Coast<\/strong> claimed the remaining direct CAF places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Asia, Qatar <\/strong>became the continent’s seventh representative<\/strong>. The national side coached by Spaniard Julen Lopetegui<\/strong> made it through the final qualifying round after beating Oman<\/strong> and the United Arab Emirates<\/strong> to top their group and reach their second World Cup, this time through qualification rather than as hosts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly afterwards, Saudi Arabia<\/strong> joined them, earning their place with a goalless draw<\/strong> against Iraq<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UEFA opened its list of World Cup participants with England<\/strong>. The English side became the first to secure qualification<\/strong> in Europe after topping Group K regardless of the remaining fixtures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

France <\/strong>were next, following a 4-0 win over Ukraine<\/strong> in the penultimate qualifying round. On Friday, Croatia <\/strong>sealed their ticket by beating the Faroe Islands<\/strong> to lead Group L with 19 points and one match remaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Europe had to wait until the final matchday<\/strong> to confirm the nine teams qualifying directly, without going through the play-offs<\/strong>. The first were Portugal<\/strong>, even without Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a> in the decisive match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, Norway <\/strong>sealed their place after thrashing Italy<\/strong>, returning to the World Cup 28 years after their last appearance in 1998. The Netherlands<\/strong> and Germany <\/strong>followed after big wins on the final day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Europe’s last day of action, Spain<\/strong>, Scotland<\/strong>, Belgium<\/strong>, Switzerland <\/strong>and Austria <\/strong>also booked their tickets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Injury-time wonder-goals by Kieran Tierney<\/strong> and Kenny McLean<\/strong> handed Scotland a stunning 4-2 win<\/strong> over Denmark <\/strong>on Tuesday to qualify them for the 2026 World Cup, while Spain <\/strong>also booked their ticket with a 2-2 draw<\/strong> against Turkey<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belgium thumped Liechtenstein 7-0<\/strong> to reach next year’s tournament as Switzerland <\/strong>and Austria <\/strong>ground out draws to secure their places<\/strong> in the United States, Canada and Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The excitement was palpable <\/strong>in the final matches before the play-offs, the CONCACAF qualifiers. There, and not without suffering, Curacao <\/strong>made history by reaching their first-ever World Cup. In addition, Haiti <\/strong>and Panama <\/strong>will take part in their second global tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The road to the 2026 World Cup has only just begun. Wit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1827,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1825\/revisions\/1827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}