While the focus this summer is on the revamped Club World Cup, all eyes will soon shift toward the actual World Cup next summer.
The United States is getting a dummy run at hosting the tournament with the club version this summer as it prepares to welcome the top nations in the game in 2026, alongside Mexico and Canada.
It’s an expanded field, with a massive 48 nations taking part from six confederations.
The Uefa qualifying schedule is still in its infancy. England, for example, have played three games so far, while the likes of France, Spain and Portugal are yet to even begin due to their Nations League commitments.
However, we already have 13 nations qualified from four of the confederations, with some familiar giants joined by some surprise debutants.
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Who has already qualified for the 2026 World Cup?
AFC
Australia
Until 2006, Australia’s only previous World Cup was in 1974. However, since then, they’ve maintained a strong qualification record, making it to each of the last five editions and making it to the round of 16 twice — including in Qatar. The Socceroos have extended that run to seven straight World Cups, losing just once in 16 qualification matches, ensuring one of the neutral’s favourite faces of this tournament will be there once again.
Iran
Iran have an equally impressive qualification record, making it to six of the last 10 editions in which they’ve been eligible. Like Australia, they also lost just one match during qualification. However, they still await their first knockout berth having won just three of their 18 finals matches to date.
Japan
Japan made their World Cup debut in 1998 and have been mainstays of the tournament ever since, reaching the round of 16 in four of their seven attempts — including the last two. The Samurai Blue breezed through qualifying unbeaten in 14 games and are dark horses for many to cause a stir next year with the likes of Takefusa Kubo, Kaoru Mitoma and Daizen Maeda around.
Jordan
At the 11th attempt, Jordan have finally qualified for the World Cup, finishing second behind South Korea in Group B, ahead of Iraq, Oman, Palestine and Kuwait.
The vast majority of their squad play in their home country, but they do have a couple of standout stars in forwards Musa Al-Taamari and Ibrahim Sabra, who play for Rennes and Goztepe, respectively. The former has 23 goals in 79 caps to date, while the latter is just 19 years old.
South Korea
Another Asian staple at the World Cup, South Korea matched Japan as remaining unbeaten during qualifying. This will be their 11th straight World Cup and 12th overall and while they’ve never gone beyond the round of 16 outside their own nation, they will fancy themselves to cause a shock with the likes of Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in and Kim Min-jae in their squad.
Uzbekistan
Another debutant, Uzbekistan finished second to Iran in Group A, and ahead of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kyrgyzstan and North Korea. There’s an exciting clutch of Uzbek players around right now, headed up by Man City youngster Abdukodir Khusanov and experienced Roma forward Eldor Shomurodov.
Concacaf
Canada
One of the three hosts, Canada didn’t have to run the qualifying gauntlet this time, meaning they’ve long been assured of their third-ever World Cup.
If everyone is fit, this is a very exciting group, including Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David and Tajon Buchanan, managed by Jesse Marsch. They’ve lost all six of their World Cup matches to date but will aim to put that right on home soil.
Mexico
Co-host number two, Mexico are preparing for their ninth straight World Cup and 18th overall. It would have been their 10th in a row had they not been banned in 1990 after using overaged players at youth level.
Mexico exited at the group stage in Qatar, ending a run of seven straight round of 16 exits. But there’s huge talent in the group, including Santiago Gimenez, Edson Alvarez and the evergreen Raul Jimenez. Another knockout appearance should be the absolute minimum expectation as a co-host.
United States
Like Canada and Mexico, the United States qualified automatically for this World Cup, which will be their 12th in a row. They’ve made it to the round of 16 in each of their last three but just a couple of years ago, many were looking at the young talent in this group as potential dark horses for a much deeper run at this competition.
Things haven’t been smooth for them so far under Mauricio Pochettino. But in the likes of Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Chris Richards, they have top talents. And behind them, there is a very exciting emerging group including Ricardo Pepi, Yunus Musah and Malik Tillman.
Conmebol
Argentina
Surely, it was never in doubt that the holders would qualify for what will be their 19th World Cup and 14th in a row. All three of their titles have come within that run, while they’ve reached a further two finals. In fact, Argentina have played in two of the last three World Cup finals, so they’ll be heavily fancied once again.
Will Lionel Messi play? Probably. Regardless, there’s an exciting crop behind him that includes Julian Alvarez, Alexis Mac Allister and Enzo Fernandez. Not to mention teenager Franco Mastantuono, who is set to join Real Madrid from River Plate this summer.
At the time of writing, Argentina are 10 points clear of any other team in the famously brutal CONMEBOL qualifying table.
Brazil
Brazil are even more reliable than Argentina when it comes to reaching the World Cup, with this latest success meaning they’ve qualified for all 23 editions of the tournament so far.
That’s an absolutely incredible return, as is their record five tournament wins. However, they find themselves in a drought at the moment, exiting at the quarter-final stage in four of the last five editions and failing to reach a final since they last won it in 2002. In fact, this is the longest Brazil have ever gone without reaching a final and the joint-longest without winning it since they first lifted the trophy in 1958.
Ecuador
Ecuador have enjoyed an excellent qualifying campaign, finding themselves sandwiched between Argentina and Brazil in second place at the time of writing.
La Tri first qualified for the World Cup in 2002 and this will be their fifth appearance at the tournament. With them, they bring an immensely talented group including Moises Caicedo, Piero Hincapie, Willian Pacho and Kendry Paez.
Another dark horse, perhaps?
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OFC
New Zealand
This marks the first time that the Oceania Football Confederation has had a direct qualification slot into the World Cup and New Zealand have taken full advantage. By far the strongest nation in their region, the All Whites won all three of their group games against Tahiti, Vanuatu and Samoa, before thrashing Fiji and New Caledonia 7-0 and 3-0, respectively, during the knockouts.
This will be New Zealand’s first World Cup since 2010 and just their third overall. But they caused a fuss last time they were here at South Africa 2010, drawing against Paraguay, Slovakia and, most famously, Italy — even finishing above the four-time champions in third.
Chris Wood will be leaned on heavily to try and help them to their first knockout berth, but New Zealand do have other quality in Empoli defender Liberato Cacace and former Bayern Munich forward Sarpreet Singh, who now plays for Uniao de Leiria in Portugal.