FIFA WORLD CUP 2026: Still 18 finals slots open and all to play for in next two weeks
KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTING —- The next two weeks will see more nations join the 20 already certain of appearing at the expanded, 48-team FIFA World Cup finals next year, including the cohosting trio of Canada, Mexico and United States.
Also sure of their tickets are previous finalists Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Paraguay, South Korea, Tunisia and Uruguay plus debutants Jordan and Uzbekistan
More slots will be filled in the fortnight with the rest will remain undecided until November and then even beyond that for those caught up in the playoffs.
The clearest picture concerns the South American [CONMEBOL] section. Here 10 teams have been competing in the traditional eco-unfriendly round-robin liguilla. At stake have been six automatic qualifying spots one inter-confederation playoff berth.
Heading to the finals are champions Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay, Colombia, and Paraguay. The playoff spot was taken by Bolivia with Venezuela, Peru and Chile missing out.
In Asia, the qualification process is multi-staged. The third round is complete in many groups, yielding most of the direct qualifiers. However, still available are slots via the fourth round and intercontinental playoff.
October sees the fourth round with its two groups of three teams. The winners qualify directly with the runners-up bound for another play-off.
Europe waits
Europe’s qualifying format has 12 groups, some of four teams, some of five. The 12 group winners will qualify directly. Runners-up and certain Nations League outcomes feed into play-offs for the remaining European spots.
Several groups appear all but decided, at least as far as top spots are concerned. Hence October could bring qualification for Norway [Group I] and England [Gp K] who have both won all five matches so far. Apparent favourites to join them, in November if not October, are France [Grp D], Spain [Gp E] and Portugal [Gp F]. Former world champions Germany and Italy still have some work ahead of them.
In Africa, many teams are still in with mathematical hopes of qualifying or being runners-up. Same with CONCACAF – apart from the hosting trio – and Oceania where New Zealand are through but play-off and playoff-participation spots remain unresolved.
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