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2026 World Cup: Qualified teams, groups and tournament format
01st April, 2026 02:45 PM
The final six nations have qualified for the 2026 World Cup, completing the expanded 48‑team line‑up for this summer’s tournament.
DR Congo and Iraq were the last two teams to book their places in the 23rd edition of the World Cup to be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico from 11 June to 19 July.
It rounded off a marathon qualification process that began in September 2023 and spanned six confederations before culminating in the high‑stakes UEFA and intercontinental playoffs on 31 March.
Full lineup
The final four European teams were confirmed on Tuesday, with the big news being that four-time winners Italy were knocked out by Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Czech Republic, Turkey and Sweden also qualified.
DR Congo and Iraq booked their place with wins over Jamaica and Bolivia respectively.
Of the 48 teams participating, the three hosts qualified automatically, while 43 places were earned via direct qualification from the confederations and two spots were determined by intercontinental playoffs.
With the full cast confirmed, attention now shifts towards the biggest World Cup staged.
A record 48 nations -up from the 32 that featured in Qatar four years ago – will take part in the 2026 edition, making it the largest World Cup field, with 104 matches to be played across three countries for the first time.
It will take place in 16 cities – 11 in the US, three in Mexico and two in Canada – between 11 June and 19 July.
The tournament will also last a record 39 days—an increase from 29 days in Qatar and 32 in 2014 and 2018 – and a new format features 12 groups of four.
Mexico will face South Africa in Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca to open the tournament on Thursday, 11 June—18 days after the conclusion of the Premier League season.
The top two teams from the 12 groups and the eight best third‑placed nations will advance into an expanded knockout phase that will begin with a round of 32.
The new world champion will be crowned at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on 19 July.
Kick-off times
With games taking place across four time zones and at locations up to 2,800 miles apart, there will be a total of 13 different kick-off times.
That means for viewers in Europe, some games will be played from midnight onwards.
For example, all five of the group-stage matches in Kansas City will take place in the middle of the night UK time, with the earliest kick-off being 11:00 pm on Friday, 26 June, for Tunisia against the Netherlands, while the latest is a 5:00 am start for Algeria versus Austria on Sunday, 28 June.
The San Francisco Bay Area hosts two games that will kick off at 07:00 am, Austria versus Jordan on Tuesday, 16 June, and Turkey versus Paraguay on Friday, 19 June.
There are also 07:00 pm games in Vancouver, Australia, versus Turkey on Saturday, 13 June, and in Guadalupe, Mexico, when Tunisia takes on Japan on Saturday, 20 June.
In total there will be 35 group-stage games that kick-off between 02:00 am and 07:00 am, which is almost half of the 72 fixtures for that stage.
However, the most common kick-off time is 10:00 pm, with 12 group-stage games taking place then.
