The world association FIFA has not yet made a decision on the mode of the preliminary round at the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada. Details would “follow in due course,” FIFA announced after a council meeting on Tuesday.
The tournament in three years will be held for the first time with 48 teams, which will also increase the number of participants from the various continental associations. FIFA had initially favored 16 groups of three in the preliminary round, but recently they also brought up twelve groups of four. The number of games increases in both cases. In groups of three, 80 instead of the previous 64 matches would be played, and in groups of four even 104.
16 teams from Europe are taking part, Asia has at least eight teams and Africa has nine. At least six teams come from South America, Oceania has a starting place guaranteed. A total of two tickets will be awarded in intercontinental playoffs, in which all confederations except Europe take part.
Hosts USA, Canada and Mexico automatically qualify
One thing is clear: the hosts USA, Canada and Mexico are automatically qualified. The three starting places will be deducted from the contingent for starters from North and Central America and the Caribbean, as announced by FIFA. This means that three of the six fixed starting places of the continental confederation Concacaf have already been taken. The remaining three tickets for the 2026 tournament will be played in the qualification, and two Concacaf teams still have chances through the playoffs.
At last year’s World Cup in Qatar, Germany’s group opponents Costa Rica were the only participants from North and Central America, along with Canada, Mexico and the USA. Only the USA had made it into the round of 16 of the tournament and were eliminated there after a 1:3 against the Netherlands.