Qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup began on Oct. 12, 2023, when minor nations from the Asian confederation played their first round of matches. Myanmar's Lwin Moe Aung scored the very first goal in a 5-1 win over Macau.
All confederations are drawing to a close, but we're a long way from discovering the list of 45 nations who will join hosts United States, Mexico and Canada to make up the full field of 48.
Japan were the very first country to qualify on March 20.
South America: Wraps up its qualifying programme. The final three automatic qualifiers were decided on Thursday. On Tuesday, we'll find out which nation will be in the inter-confederation playoffs.
Europe and Concacaf: Qualifying, which ends in November, is still at an early stage and no country will book their place.
Africa: There are still three rounds to be played in the main group stage, but we're finding out our first qualifiers.
Asia: The first six countries have booked their places, with the next round starting in October.
Oceania: Process complete, with New Zealand through and New Caledonia in the playoffs.
There were 54 FIFA-affiliated nations in the draw.
However, Eritrea subsequently withdrew. Congo, in the same group, were suspended by FIFA on Feb. 6 due to government interference, though they had lost all three group games at the time.
Round 1: The teams are in eight groups of six nations, and one group of four (with Eritrea and Congo removed.)
The nine group winners qualify for the World Cup.
This stage began in November 2023 and will be completed with rounds to be played in September and October.
Morocco (18) became the first African nation to qualify, from Group E, when they thrashed Niger (6) 5-0 on Friday with Tanzania (10) held to a shock
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