How World Cup qualifying works: Rules, format and how to earn a spot at FIFA tournament

JUMP TO:

• How does World Cup qualifying work?
• How many teams qualify for the World Cup?
• When does World Cup qualifying take place?
• World Cup qualifying rules
• World Cup qualifying format by region
• What is the Intercontinental Playoff?
• How do World Cup qualifying draws work?
• Countries that never qualified for World Cup
• World Cup qualifying history
• World Cup qualifying memorable moments

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup set to be the most expansive edition to date, qualifying for the competition has taken on a new look.

Across the nearly 100 years of this iconic competition, qualifying has evolved with the constant reformatting, restructuring and reorganizing the World Cup has undergone through the decades.

Now, 48 teams will make their way to the United States, Canada and Mexico to contest the latest edition of the competition and battle to lift the world's most iconic sports trophy.

But how did they arrive at the World Cup to begin with? The Sporting News details how World Cup qualifying works, how it has evolved over the years and more, including some of the most memorable and infamous moments in the history of the competition.

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How does World Cup qualifying work?

While FIFA are the organizers of the World Cup every four years, they leave qualification to the tournament down to their subsidiary governing bodies.

Each continental confederation around the world — AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONMEBOL (South America), CONCACAF (North America), OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe) — is given a certain number of qualifying spots into the World Cup.

To determine the representatives for each spot, confederations hold their own qualifying tournament, allowing the berths to be earned solely by a merit-based system.

Continental size and membership, pedigree of member nations and other localized cultural factors all contribute to how qualifying is structured at each confederation.

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How many teams qualify for the World Cup?

For the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the first of the latest expansion, 48 teams qualify to the final tournament in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

As there are 209 nations in the FIFA global membership, the World Cup will see nearly 23% of the entire FIFA constituency represented at the tournament.

* For the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the three host nations USA, Canada, and Mexico take up three of CONCACAF's six qualifying places.
** Russia has been banned from participation in World Cup qualifying due to their invasion of Ukraine, leaving UEFA with 54 participants for the 2026 cycle.

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When does World Cup qualifying take place?

All teams set to participate at the FIFA World Cup, aside from the Intercontinental Playoff qualifiers, must be known by the time of the draw, which usually takes place around six or seven months ahead of the competition.

Thus, qualifying must take place prior to this. Each confederation is different with regards to when they begin their qualifying cycle, but all qualification tournaments usually wrap up with around eight or nine months to go until the World Cup.

CONMEBOL qualifying, with their full 18-match round robin, takes the longest, so their competition usually begins quite quickly after the previous World Cup wraps up, with about three years to go until the next edition. AFC and CAF qualifying begins shortly after, but not all nations are involved until about a year or two later.

CONCACAF qualifying usually begins with about 18 to 24 months to go until the coming World Cup, while UEFA has the shortest qualifying cycle, beginning around 16 to 18 months out from the competition.

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World Cup qualifying rules

Each confederation has its own World Cup qualifying format.

While FIFA puts out general guidelines for how qualifying should work, and provides guidance to the confederations when determining their system, it is ultimately up to each confederation how to build their qualification format.

FIFA has dictated that qualifying must consist of at least one or more of the following formats:

• A double round-robin (or "league") format in which each team in a group plays all other teams in their group twice — once home, and once away.
• A single round-robin format in which each team in a group plays all other teams in their group once.
  • For this, host venues can be either drawn at random or assigned by the confederation, if all participants agree
• A knockout format in which each team in a round plays one other team across two legs — one home and one away.

The following formats are also allowable, with FIFA's consent:

• A tournament held in one of the participating nations or a neutral territory
• A single-leg knockout format

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World Cup qualifying format by region

For the 2026 FIFA World Cup, qualifying formats changed slightly to accommodate the expansion to 48 teams.

Here are the qualification formats for each confederation for the 2026 World Cup cycle.

World Cup qualifying Europe: UEFA

The European confederation enjoys the largest member constituency of all continents, with two more than Africa. With 16 total spots at the 2026 World Cup, they earn the most places of any confederation, seven more than anyone else. As a result, they are also the only confederation without a single intercontinental spot.

UEFA qualifying is broken down into just two phases. In the first round, a round robin group stage, all nations are filtered out into 12 groups, with six groups sporting four nations and six groups filled up with five. The top spot in each group earns direct qualification to the World Cup, while the second-place finishers advance to the second round.

With 12 teams directly qualifying for the World Cup, the second round is a 16-team elimination tournament separated out into four mini-brackets. 12 second-place qualifiers from the group stage are joined by four of the highest-placing finishers from the latest UEFA Nations League who have not yet qualified.

These teams are drawn into the four mini brackets, with the winner of each bracket earning one of the final four qualifying spots.

2026 UEFA World Cup qualification spots

World Cup qualifying South America: CONMEBOL

With just 10 member nations, CONMEBOL earns a whopping six places at the World Cup in 2026, plus another in the Intercontinental Playoff, largely thanks to the pedigree of the South American confederation.

Thanks to the small constituency, only one round-robin phase is required to determine the qualifiers from CONMEBOL.

All nations are sorted into a 10-team table, and they all play a home-and-away round robin to determine the places. The top six teams qualify directly to the World Cup, while the seventh-placed team is the confederation's Intercontinental Playoff participant.

2026 CONMEBOL World Cup qualification spots

2026 CONMEBOL Intercontinental Playoff qualification spot

World Cup qualifying North and Central America: CONCACAF

Thanks to CONCACAF's three most prominent members USA, Canada and Mexico all qualifying to the 2026 World Cup automatically as hosts, the rest of the confederation is playing for three more places at the World Cup plus another two places at the Intercontinental Playoff.

To sift through the confederation's 32 member nations, many of them small island countries, there are three rounds of qualifying. In the first round, the confederation's four lowest-ranked sides contest a two-legged matchup to determine the final two qualifiers to the main phase of qualifying.

This whittles the field down to 30 teams for the second round, which then sees all nations sorted into six groups of five teams each to contest a round robin. The top two teams in each group advance to the third phase of competition, where the places are determined.

In the third round, the remaining 12 teams are separated again into three groups of four, with the group winners qualifying directly to the World Cup. Two of the three group runners-up qualify to the intercontinental Playoff by their FIFA ranking, while the third is eliminated.

2026 CONCACAF World Cup qualification spots

2026 CONCACAF Intercontinental Playoff qualification spots

World Cup qualifying Africa: CAF

African World Cup qualifying is split into two phases, much like the European model, with the 53 member nations competing for nine World Cup places and one Intercontinental Playoff spot.

The first round is the main phase of competition, with all nations split up into nine groups of six. The group winners advance directly to the World Cup, earning the confederation's allotment of places.

The second-place finishers are then sorted into a nine-team table, with the top four earning passage to the second round. There, they are drawn into a mini four-team bracket, with all matchups being played out over two legs. The winner of the mini-bracket advances to the Intercontinental Playoff.

2026 CAF World Cup qualification spots

2026 CAF Intercontinental Playoff qualification spot

World Cup qualifying Asia: AFC

For the 2026 cyle, the 46 member nations from the Asian confederation came together to contest five rounds of World Cup qualifying, battling for eight direct qualifying places plus one Intercontinental Playoff spot.

In the first round, the 20 lowest-ranked sides are drawn against one another and play over two legs, eliminating 10 teams off the bat. In the second round, the other 26 teams join the fray, as the remaining 36 participants are drawn into a group stage broken into nine groups of four teams each. The top two finishers in each group advance to the third round, while the bottom two are eliminated.

In the third round, six direct qualifiers are determined as the remaining 18 nations are spread across three groups of six teams each. The top two finishers in each group qualify directly for the World Cup, while the third-place and fourth-place finishers advance to the fourth round.

In the fourth round, the remaining six teams are spread into two groups of three, with the two group winners earning a spot in the World Cup, while the second-place finishers advance to the final phase of play.

For the fifth and final round, the two fourth round group runners-up are matched up against one another in a two-legged contest, with the winner securing the Intercontinental Playoff spot.

2026 AFC World Cup qualification spots

2026 AFC Intercontinental Playoff qualification spot

World Cup qualifying Oceania: OFC

FIFA's smallest confederation has just one direct qualification spot at the World Cup, plus one more Intercontinental Playoff spot, with qualifying taking place across three phases.

In the first round, the four lowest-ranked teams contest a four-team mini bracket, with the winner advancing to the second round and the other three participants eliminated.

In the second round, the remaining eight teams are separated into two groups of four, with the top two finishers in each group advancing to the third round. There, they contest another four-team mini bracket, with the winner of the round advancing directly to the World Cup, while the runner-up secures a place in the Intercontinental Playoff.

2026 OFC World Cup qualification spot

2026 OFC Intercontinental Playoff qualification spot

What is the Intercontinental Playoff?

The Intercontinental Playoff is FIFA's playoff system used to determine the final four places at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Beginning in the 1998 cycle as an AFC-OFC playoff to earn one spot in that year's World Cup, the Intercontinental Playoff has evolved over the years.

The following cycle, it was expanded to include four participants, one from each confederation except Africa and South America. For the 2006 World Cup, it remained the same but swapped out a European participant for a South American one, using this format for the next five editions of the competition through the 2022 World Cup.

In 2026, it has once again expanded to a six-team tournament used to solidify the final two places at the coming competition. There are representatives from five of the six confederations, with only Europe not sending a participant as they already have 16 direct qualifiers, while North America sends two.

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How do World Cup qualifying draws work?

The draw held by each confederation for their varying stages of qualifying differ greatly to fit the needs of the competition and individual stage.

However, there are a few similarities between them all, which fit with other draws held at various competitions around the football world.

Teams are often sorted into pots by their FIFA ranking before being drawn blindly from a collection to provide the necessary matchups. This can work for both filling out multi-team groups, or team vs. team single matchups.

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Countries that never qualified for World Cup

Even as the tournament expands to 48 teams, qualifying for the World Cup is exceedingly difficult. For each qualifier to the competition, three more nations are left out, and it is often the same countries every cycle that find themselves on the outside looking in.

Currently, only 22 percent of FIFA member nations qualify for the World Cup in 2026, leaving a number of countries out in the cold.

As of October 2025, the highest-ranking nation in the FIFA hierarchy to never qualify for the World Cup is Venezuela, who are the only CONMEBOL side never to take part in a FIFA tournament.

You can find a full list of the 131 nations never to have qualified for a FIFA World Cup at the link below. 

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World Cup qualifying history

As the FIFA World Cup has evolved across its nearly 100 years of existence, so too has qualifying for the competition.

1930: The first World Cup

Qualifying for the first-ever FIFA World Cup wasn't just rudimentary, it was non-existent.

As the idea of a global football tournament was new, and the number of national teams participating at such a level was low, the tournament was filled out by invite instead of qualifying. To this day, it is the only World Cup with such a field.

With the tournament being held in Uruguay, and global travel still in its infancy, few European teams took part compared to a host of those from the Americas.

1934: The dawn of World Cup qualifying

With the first World Cup completed and legitimacy displayed, 32 nations entered to take part in the second-ever iteration of the tournament, with 29 of them able to actually take part in the end, competing for 16 spots in the finals.

Instead of delegation qualification to each continent, FIFA held one single qualifying tournament, although it was still broken down by geography. Three-team groups were created, and the top two finishers qualified. In some cases, only two teams filled out a group, in which case the group winner qualified.

Held in Italy, the 1934 World Cup is the only time in the competition's history that the host nation was required to take part in qualifying, as there was not yet the precedent of hosts qualifying automatically.

This format also was used again for the 1938 World Cup, which for the first time featured automatic qualification for both the host and the defending champion, which saw just 14 spots remaining through the four-year qualification process.

1950-1974: Post-war World Cup qualifying

After World War II caused FIFA to pause the World Cup for 16 years, the World Cup resumed in 1950, and the previous qualifying format was brought back.

However, as the game became more popular around the world, qualifying saw a dramatic increase in participation, even as the competition remained steadfast at 16 teams in the final tournament. 34 teams entered the 1950 qualifying competition, jumping to 55 in 1958, 72 in 1966, and 75 in 1970.

1966 was the first time in which qualifying was organised by the local confederations. At this stage of FIFA's evolution, football in Asia and Africa was still behind other confederations, so those two continents competed against one another, as well as Oceania, for a single spot at the final tournament. This lack of recognition saw the 15 African nations collectively boycott qualifying, which saw FIFA eventually grant the continent a guaranteed spot moving forward.

Qualifying for the 1974 World Cup brought about the debut of the Intercontinental Playoff, which saw a European qualifier and a South American qualifier square off for the last spot at the final tournament.

The 1978 World Cup, the last edition with 16 participants, saw a whopping 107 nations compete for a place. This was a signal that expansion was required.

1982-1994: World Cup expansion to 24

With the game expanding rapidly on a global scale and travel across the world no longer such a daunting undertaking, FIFA expanded the 1974 World Cup to 24 participants, adding eight places to the final competition.

By this point, Africa was the only continent not to be using a group stage-style qualifying format, instead holding a massive knockout bracket for its 29 member nations.

The 24-team format would continue in 1986, when 121 nations entered qualifying. European nations were given over half the qualification slots, with UEFA earning 14 berths into the field. Meanwhile, South America got four while North America, Africa, and Asia all earned two.

For the 1990 World Cup cycle, the global qualification participants dropped for the first time in history, with 116 entering play. The final tournament with 24 participants was the 1994 edition held in the United States, where a massive 147 teams contested qualification.

1998-2022: Establishing modern World Cup age

For the 1998 World Cup in France, FIFA further expanded the field of teams to 32 participants at the final tournament.

The vast majority of the expansion benefitted the previously under-represented confederations, as Europe did not see an increase in its participants beyond 14. Instead, Africa was bumped up to five, South America was given four, North America three, and Asia three plus a fourth in the Intercontinental Playoff against Oceania.

This would be the format for the next two decades, with this generation of football fans becoming accustomed to the modern format.

The 2006 World Cup would be the first time that the defending champions would not be given an automatic place in the field four years later, making 2002 champions Brazil the first-ever defending champion to participate in qualification for the following tournament.

Qualification for the 2010 World Cup was highlighted by controversy, mainly in the European phase, where the Republic of Ireland reportedly petitioned to be a 33rd participant due to a refereeing controversy, a request which was later withdrawn. This and other incidents around the world saw FIFA hold a meeting to expand officiating investment and overhaul procedures.

The 2010 qualifying cycle also saw Spain win all 10 of its matches, a record for World Cup qualifying which still stands today.

2026: Over-expansion to 48 teams

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the first to feature a 48-team field at the final competition.

While the football governing body has staunchly supported its decision to include 12 more participants, this decision has come under fire for diluting the tournament field and rendering the qualification process an afterthought for many top nations.

While the former concern remains a talking point, the latter has been disputed as qualifying progresses. Top teams have indeed still felt the heat during qualification, but the amount of room for error has increased dramatically.

For example, Brazil struggled greatly during CONMEBOL qualification, but still managed to finish eight points clear in a qualification spot. Their fifth-place standing saw them in with room to spare, even though fifth in previous iterations would have only earned a spot at the Intercontinental Playoff.

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World Cup qualifying memorable moments

"God is Bulgarian!": France fail to reach 1994 World Cup

Having failed to reach the 1990 World Cup, the pressure was on France to find themselves back on the global football stage. While Les Bleus were not the powerhouse then as they are now, with only a pair of third-place finishes at the World Cup to hang their hats on, they were still widely regarded as one of the giants of global football.

It was a November night in 1993, then, that France needed a result at home against Bulgaria to qualify. Defeat to basement-dwellers Israel in the penultimate round set up a nervy finish to qualifying, but even a draw would have been enough to reach the 1994 tournament in the United States.

Instead, Bulgaria logged one of the greatest shocks in European history and painted France winger David Ginola as the scapegoat of the hour. With time ticking down and the score level at 1-1, Ginola received a free-kick and audaciously delivered a cross instead of taking the ball to the corner to kill the clock. Bulgaria cleared and countered, with left-back Emil Kremenliev providing the finishing touch for a 2-1 win.

The Bulgarian announcers euphorically proclaimed "God is Bulgarian!" Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the defeat, France head coach Gerard Houllier singled out Ginola as the "murderer" of France's World Cup candidacy. "He sent an Exocet missile through the heart of French football and committed a crime against the team," Houllier infamously said.

Verguenza: Colombia obliterate Argentina

Before the days of CONMEBOL's current World Cup format, which is build on one massive round robin, the nine member nations were split into two groups. The top two finishers in the five-team group would qualify directly, while the winner of the four-team group would qualify directly and the runner-up would reach the Intercontinental Playoff.

On the final day of qualification to the 1994 World Cup, Argentina needed to beat Colombia to secure a spot in the tournament — anything less, and they were at risk of elimination.

In front of 75,000 fans at El Monumental, Diego Maradona and Argentina were utterly pummeled, beaten 5-0 as Colombia scored four times in the second half, as both Freddy Rincon and Faustino Asprilla picked up braces. After the match, Maradona was seen applauding the Colombians' performance.

The defeat — Argentina's first ever World Cup qualifying defeat at El Monumental — left Argentina at risk of what would have been a stunning fate: missing the 1994 World Cup altogether. A Paraguay win on the road at hapless Peru — who at that point had suffered defeat in all five games – would have seen La Albiceleste out, but Peru managed to secure a 2-2 draw, earning their only point of that qualifying cycle and seeing Argentina sneak into the Intercontinental Playoff where they would beat Australia 2-1 on aggregate over two legs.

Shame of Istanbul: Switzerland win bonkers 2006 World Cup qualifier

With Turkey and Switzerland matched up in a two-legged UEFA qualification playoff, chaos ensued across each of the two matches.

The first leg was contested in Geneva, where the Turkish national team complained of hostility and poor treatment. Switzerland won the opener 2-0 at home, setting up a tense return trip to the Turkish capital.

In a bout of return fire, the Swiss national team was harassed en route to the match, including having their bags searched by Turkish customs while the airport staff serenaded the players with chants and songs.

On the field, Turkey took a 3-1 lead, but still needed another goal to qualify thanks to the away goals rule. After a number of missed chances, Switzerland scored in the 84th minute to seal the spot, and even as Turkey would bag one more in the 88th minute, the 4-2 final score left it level at 4-4 on aggregate, meaning Switzerland went through.

Immediately, all hell broke loose on the pitch as fans pelted the Swiss players with objects and a brawl broke out on the field.

Ronaldo hat-trick saves Portugal in duel with Zlatan

One of the all-time great duels of superstar strikers took place in European qualifying for the 2014 World Cup, as Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic went head-to-head for a place at the famous tournament.

With Portugal winning the first leg of their UEFA playoff with Sweden 1-0 at home, the return leg featured some of the most electric back-and-forth swings in qualifying memory.

The match was scoreless as it reached halftime, but the final 45 minutes exploded to life. Ronaldo struck first in the 50th minute, but Ibra hit back for a four-minute brace, scoring twice in the 68th and 72nd minutes to put Sweden up 2-1 and draw level on aggregate.

With the match now entirely in the balance, Ronaldo would score twice in two minutes to secure a famous hat-trick and send Portugal to the World Cup.

Disaster in Couva: USA fail to qualify for 2018 World Cup

One of the most infamous results in U.S. Soccer history is the 2017 failure in Trinidad & Tobago, where the lowly CONCACAF nation sprung one of the most shocking upsets in North American history to keep the USMNT out of the 2018 World Cup.

A win for the U.S. would mathematically qualify them for the World Cup regardless of outside results, while a draw would also almost surely do the trick. Instead, they were stunned by a 2-1 defeat, and were helpless as a perfect storm of outside results conspired to see them out of a World Cup final tournament for the first time since 1986.

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