The South American Confederation will launch the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in the United States, Canada and Mexico on Thursday, with 48 teams participating for the first time in history.
The FIFA Council decided in 2017 that the number of seats allocated to the six confederations is as follows:
- EU: 16 seats
- AU: 9.5 seats (with one team qualifying for the continental play-offs)
- AFC: 8.5 seats (with one team qualifying for the play-offs)
- Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF): 6.5 seats (with two teams qualifying for the continental play-offs)
- South American Confederation: 6.5 seats (with one team qualifying for the continental play-offs)
- Oceania Confederation: 1.5 seats (with <> team qualifying for the continental play-offs)
Argentina won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar (Al Jazeera)
The preliminary qualifiers for the Confederations World Cup are as follows:
Europe
The group stage consists of 12 groups of 5 or 4 teams, competing in a two-legged league system between March 2025 and November 2025.
The leaders of the Group 12 standings qualify directly for the World Cup. The second-placed teams, as well as the top four top-ranked teams from the UEFA Nations League 2024-2025 that finished outside the first and second places, will play a European play-off in March 2026.
The 16 teams are divided into 4 groups, each representing a qualifying track consisting of 4 teams, where each team plays in each track one semi-final match, the winners of the two semi-finals of each track qualify for one decisive match that takes place in the same international match window, and the four winning teams in each track qualify for the World Cup.
Italy looking for a ticket to qualify for the 2026 World Cup to compensate for their absence from the World Cup in Qatar (Getty Images)
African Union
The first phase of the qualifiers takes place between November 2023 and October 2025, with the teams divided into 9 groups of 6 teams each, with the top of each qualifying for the World Cup directly.
The top 4 second-placed teams advance to an African play-off in November 2025 with two individual semi-final matches in one location and one final from which the winner will qualify for the continental play-offs.
Sadio Mane (left) and Mohamed Salah lead Senegal and Egypt in 2026 World Cup qualifiers (Anatolia)
AFC
Joint qualifiers for both the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 AFC Asian Cup.
The first phase will start in October 2023 and will include a series of 10 one-on-one matches between 20 Asian teams, with 10 teams qualifying for the second phase between November 2023 and June 2024.
The qualifiers include 9 groups, each comprising 4 teams, and the first and second place finishers from each group qualify for the final stage of the Asian qualifiers.
The details of the confrontations of the 46 countries were revealed according to the draw for the first and second qualifying stages, which were hosted by Kuala Lumpur.
The final stage of the qualifiers will be held between September 2024 and June 2025, and will include 3 groups of 6 teams each, with the first and second places from each group qualifying for the 2026 World Cup directly, while the third and fourth place finishers from each group compete in an Asian play-off.
The group stage of the Asian play-offs takes place between October and November 2025 at a single venue, with the six teams divided into two groups of 3 teams.
The first-placed teams in both groups qualify directly for the World Cup, while the second-placed teams in each group qualify for a single elimination clash, the winner of which reaches the continental play-off qualifiers.
Summary of our second day at Newcastle 🤩🎥 pic.twitter.com/Wl2JD1YCAA
— Saudi national team (@SaudiNT) September 4, 2023
Concacaf Federation
Canada, Mexico and the United States of America participate in the World Cup automatically as the host countries.
The four lowest-ranked teams in the international ranking will each play two round-robin matches in March 2024, with the winner of each of these two doubles qualifying for the second phase of the continental qualifiers to be held in June 2024 and June 2025.
The qualifiers consist of 6 groups of 5 teams each, with the first and second place finishers from each group advancing to the final stage, which takes place between September and November 2025.
The final stage includes 3 groups of 4 teams each, with the leaders of each group qualifying directly for the World Cup, while the two best second-placed teams qualify for the continental play-offs.
Mexico seeks better results at 2026 World Cup at home after qualifying for the second round of the World Cup in Qatar 2022 (Reuters)
South America
The qualifying competitions take place in a league system, in which all teams face each other in two home-and-away matches, and conclude in September 2025. The top six teams reach the end of the World Cup directly, while the seventh-placed team plays the play-offs.
The South American Confederation has been following a league qualification system since the 1998 World Cup qualifiers.
Neymar leads Brazil's dreams at the 2026 World Cup (Reuters)
Oceania
The preliminary qualifiers in Oceania include 3 stages, the first taking place in one location in September 2024 and consisting of two play-offs between the continent's four lower-ranked teams, with the winners qualifying for a decisive confrontation in which the victor reaches the second stage.
The eight teams in the second stage are divided into two groups of 4 teams each, competing in the league system in October and November, and the first and second place holders from each group qualify for the third stage, which takes place in one location in March 2025 in a pattern of individual semi-final confrontations, and the two winners qualify for a decisive position that determines the identity of the qualifier for the World Cup directly, while the loser plays the continental play-offs.