2026 World Cup qualification starts. Argentina defend title

On the night of September 6-7, European time, the qualifying stage of the 2026 World Cup starts.

The final part of the tournament will take place in the summer 2026 in three countries at once: Canada, Mexico and the United States - their joint bid won the vote to host the World Cup from Morocco. 3 stadiums in Mexico, 2 in Canada and 11 in the USA will be involved in the games.

For the first time in the history of the World Cup, 48 national teams will take part in the final stage of the competition, and not 32, as was the case in Qatar. This is the first expansion of the World Cup since 1998.

Now in the final part there will be 12 groups of 4 teams each, and 32 teams will go to the playoffs at once. Accordingly, the total number of games will increase (from 64 to 104), and one team that will enter the top four will play not 7, but 8 matches.

Along with the expansion of the World Cup, the number of slots that each confederation receives in the final part of the tournament also increases.

• UEFA (Europe) - 16
• CAF (Africa) - 9
• AFC (Asia) - 8
• CONMEBOL (South America) - 6
• CONCACAF (North, Central America and the Caribbean) - 3 + 3 (three places automatically receive the hosts of the World Cup)
• OFC (Oceania) - 1
• Playoffs - 2

Four teams from Asia, Africa, Oceania, as well as North, Central America and the Caribbean will compete for two tickets to the playoffs after the qualifying stage.

The first qualifying matches will take place in South America on the night of September 6-7, 2023. Qualifications in Asia and Africa will also start this fall. In the spring of 2024, selection starts in North, Central America and the Caribbean, and in the spring of 2025 - in Europe. Qualifiers, including the playoffs, should end in March 2026.

In total, 211 national teams are planned to participate in the qualification for the 2026 World Cup.

Recall that the current world champion is Argentina. In December 2022, Lionel Messi's team beat France in the final.