Who has qualified for the 2026 World Cup?
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Australia, Brazil and Argentina are among the nations to have already qualified for the 2026 World Cup, with 13 of the 48 competing countries now known.
A number of the remaining spots are set to be decided in the final three international breaks of 2025, with some potentially being decided 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, while Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador 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
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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 their 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
Qualifying places: Six, plus one into intercontinental play-offs
Teams already through: Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil
South American qualifying comprises a big group involving all 10 teams - and started in September 2023.
The top six all reach the World Cup, with seventh place going into the intercontinental play-offs.
With two out of 18 games left, Argentina, Ecuador and Brazil are through - and Uruguay, Paraguay and Colombia occupy the other top six spots - with Venezuela seventh.
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: None
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 four games to go, the current leaders are Egypt, DR Congo, South Africa, Cape Verde, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Tunisia 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
Mauricio Pochettino will lead the United States in their first World Cup as a host nation since 1994
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.
Like Europe, there is still a long way to go with qualifying not possible until the autumn.
There are six five-team groups, with the top two from each advancing to the next stage.
The third round then has three groups of four teams - with the winners of each group going 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 only started in March - with some teams not even playing their first qualifiers until September while the Nations League continues.
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.
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