The 2026 World Cup, hosted by the USA, Canada, and Mexico, will be the first to feature 48 teams. This article reveals which nations have secured their spots and highlights any first-time participants.
The FIFA World Cup is set to take place in the summer of 2026 across the USA, Canada, and Mexico. The group draw occurred in December 2025, and all participants for this expanded 48-team tournament are now confirmed.
This article will detail which nations have qualified and which are making their World Cup debut.
2026 World Cup: Which Nations Have Qualified and Who is Participating for the First Time? — Participants
Through the qualification process for the 2026 World Cup, 45 nations have earned their place in the finals. The three host nations – USA, Mexico, and Canada – were automatically qualified.
In Asia, Japan was the first team to secure a World Cup berth through sporting qualification. In Europe, England made a strong start with a perfect record of six wins in six matches, followed shortly by vice-world champions France. Germany confirmed their qualification with a decisive victory against Slovakia. Turkey had to go through the playoffs and celebrated their advancement in late March after defeating Kosovo.
Globally, there are several debutants: Uzbekistan will be participating in a World Cup for the very first time. Jordan also secured their ticket for the first time on June 5, 2025. Cape Verde and Curaçao are also celebrating: Curaçao qualified for a World Cup tournament for the first time with a 0-0 draw against Jamaica.
- All Qualified Teams
| Confederation | Countries |
| Europe | England, France, Croatia, Portugal, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Scotland, Turkey, Czech Republic, Sweden, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Africa | Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Ghana, Cape Verde, South Africa, Senegal, Ivory Coast, DR Congo |
| Asia and Australia | Japan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Jordan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iraq |
| South America | Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Colombia |
| North and Central America | USA, Mexico, Canada, Curaçao, Haiti, Panama |
| Oceania | New Zealand |
2026 World Cup: Which Nations Have Qualified and Who is Participating for the First Time? — Draw
The draw for the 2026 World Cup groups took place on December 5th at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Twelve preliminary round groups were drawn, which can be found in the overview below:
| Group A | Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Czech Republic |
| Group B | Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Qatar, Switzerland |
| Group C | Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland |
| Group D | Turkey, USA, Australia, Paraguay |
| Group E | Germany, Curaçao, Ivory Coast, Ecuador |
| Group F | Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Tunisia |
| Group G | Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand |
| Group H | Spain, Uruguay, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia |
| Group I | France, Norway, Senegal, Iraq |
| Group J | Argentina, Austria, Algeria, Jordan |
| Group K | Portugal, Colombia, DR Congo, Uzbekistan |
| Group L | England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama |
2026 World Cup: Which Nations Have Qualified and Who is Participating for the First Time? — Format, Group Stage, Germany’s Opponents
The 48 participants in the upcoming World Cup have been divided into four different pots based on their updated world ranking. Accordingly, the draw for the group stage consisted of four pots, each containing twelve teams.
Pot 1 already included the three host nations: USA, Canada, and Mexico. The remaining spots were allocated based on the current FIFA world rankings. Germany was among these after winning their qualifying group, which was an advantage as it meant the DFB team would certainly avoid heavyweights like Argentina or France in the group stage.
Germany ultimately landed in a challenging group where the clear objective must still be to advance to the knockout phase. The journey for coach Julian Nagelsmann’s team begins on June 14th against Curaçao, followed by a duel with Ivory Coast six days later. The German team will conclude their group stage campaign on June 25th against Ecuador.
2026 World Cup: Schedule
- Group Stage: June 11th to June 27th
- Round of 32: June 28th to July 3rd
- Round of 16: July 4th to July 7th
- Quarter-finals: July 9th to July 11th
- Semi-finals: July 14th and July 15th
- Final: July 19th