 "FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-offs: Format, teams qualified, dates - all you need to know")
We are closing in on the entire set of 48 teams for the grandest ever FIFA World Cup that takes place across the United States, Canada and Mexico next year. 42 sides have already booked their spot for the quadrennial championship. The remaining six teams will qualify through play-offs.
Four out of the six remaining teams will be coming from Europe with UEFA organising their own play-offs. The other two will be decided via an inter-confederation competition dubbed FIFA Play-off Tournament.
What is FIFA Play-off Tournament?
FIFA Play-off Tournament is the final qualifier for the 2026 World Cup which will take place alongside UEFA’s similar event. Six teams will be participating in the event, and the best two sides will book their spot for the showpiece tournament.
Which teams have qualified for FIFA Play-off Tournament?
One side from every confederation except UEFA, who are staging their own play-offs, will be taking part in the FIFA Play-offs. The host confederation, in this case CONCACAF, will get one extra slot while AFC, OFC, CAF and CONMEBOL take a spot each.
New Caledonia (OFC), Bolivia (CONMEBOL), DR Congo (CAF), Iraq (AFC), Jamaica (CONCACAF), Suriname (CONCACAF) are the six teams who will be competing for the two spots.
What is the format of FIFA Play-off Tournament?
The six qualified teams will be split into two brackets and winner of each bracket will get into the World Cup.
Both brackets will have one seeded team which will be the two highest ranked teams in the competition. The remaining two teams of both the brackets will play each other in the semifinals to decide who will face the seeded team in the final.
The winner of the final from both brackets will qualify for the World Cup.
The tournament will take place in single-leg knockout format. If scores remain level at the end of regulation time, extra time will take place. If the stalemate still persists, a penalty shootout will follow.
When and where is FIFA Play-off Tournament?
The play-offs will be held during the international fixture window from March 23-31, 2026 in Mexico. The qualifying play-offs will take place just a few months ahead of the World Cup to test the facilities that will be used for the main tournament.
What about UEFA’s play-offs
UEFA will stage its own play-offs where 16 European nations will compete to take the remaining four spots.
The 16 teams qualified for European play-offs are: Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Ukraine, Poland, Wales, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Republic of Ireland, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Romania, Sweden, North Macedonia, Northern Ireland.
What is the format for UEFA World Cup Play-offs?
The 16 qualifiers for the UEFA play-offs are the 12 second-placed teams from the main UEFA World Cup qualifying groups and the four teams who made it based on their standings in the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League.
The 12 teams second-placed teams for qualifiers have been divided into three pots based on their FIFA rankings while the other four have been placed in the fourth pot.
Pot A: Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Ukraine
Pot B: Poland, Wales, Czech Republic, Slovakia
Pot C: Republic of Ireland, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo
Pot D: Romania, Sweden, North Macedonia, Northern Ireland
Four different brackets will be created with semifinals and finals taking place. The semifinals take place between teams from the following pots:
Pot 1 v Pot 4
Pot 2 v Pot 3
The winner of the semifinals will play in the final whose winners across the four brackets will make it to the World Cup.
The entire tournament will take place in a single-leg knockout format.
When is the UEFA World Cup play-offs draw?
The draw for UEFA’s World Cup play-offs takes place on Thursday, November 20 where it will be decided who plays whom.
When is the UEFA World Cup play-offs?
The eight semifinals will take place on March 26 with the finals scheduled for March 31.
FIFA World Cup 2026 teams qualified
Co-hosts: Canada, Mexico, USA
AFC: Australia, IR Iran, Japan, Jordan, Korea Republic, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan
CAF: Algeria, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia
CONCACAF: Curaçao, Haiti, Panama
CONMEBOL: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay
OFC: New Zealand
UEFA: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland
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