The 2026 World Cup is edging closer by the minute. Taking place in the United States of America, Canada and Mexico, it is set to be a spectacle with the best international teams in the world competing. In 2022, Argentina became champions of the world by beating France on penalties in one of the greatest matches of all time. They will be hoping to defend their crown in North America.

However, despite it still being two years away, the qualification process for the tournament has already begun for some federations around the globe. The 2026 World Cup will be the first edition to have 48 teams compete instead of 32. Naturally, this means it will be easier for teams to qualify for one of the hardest competitions to win.

It will never be easy though, with every nation desperate to play at the highest level in front of billions of people around the world. England in particular will be hoping to win the World Cup six decades on from their first - and only - triumph. Whether they can end 60 years of hurt remains to be seen, but they have to get there in the first place. Here's everything you need to know about the process on every continent.

UEFA World Cup Qualification

The campaign for European nations begins in March 2025

Due to FIFA's decision to increase the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams, the European section of qualification had to be modified. Previously, the federation was given 13 spaces at the prestigious tournament, but that has now increased to 16, handing more opportunities to nations outside the traditional elite.

Teams will be drawn into groups of five or four, with the winners of each group qualifying for the tournament automatically. The draw for the group stage will take place in December 2024 and there will be 12 groups in total, featuring 55 nations. The only country not involved will be Russia, as they are currently suspended by UEFA due to their invasion of Ukraine. In these groups, the 12 runners-up, as well as the four best-performing teams in the Nations League that finished outside the top two in qualifying, will enter a tournament-style play-off system, with a further four qualification spots up for grabs.

The Nations League spots are decided based on the overall ranking in the competition, with matches taking place in September, October and November 2024 during the various international windows. The four best teams in it who won their respective group and failed to finish in the top two of their World Cup qualifying group will be granted a space in the play-offs, almost acting like a 'last chance'.

For sides drawn into groups of five, the qualification campaign will begin in late March 2025, with the first two match days held just a few days apart during a chaotic and crammed domestic season. The groups of five will naturally have more matches, and it will create a situation where they will have already played four group games before the groups of four begin their fixtures, with all groups aligning for the remaining six games from early September 2025. It's always a crunch time for nations around this period, with domestic football taking a step back.

Once the groups conclude and some nations celebrate their impending trip to North America, the play-off semi-finals and finals will take place. These will occur at the end of March 2026, less than three months before the start of the tournament proper.

CONMEBOL World Cup Qualification

Defending champions Argentina are not guaranteed qualification

At previous tournaments, CONMEBOL had always opted to use a round-robin style. This saw each team play every nation home and away over the qualification process. It was initially expected that this system would be dropped due to the increase in available slots, but in August 2022, the federation petitioned FIFA to keep the qualification format which had been used since 1996.

It was reluctantly approved, with the first games of the qualifiers played in September 2023. With 10 teams in the process, there are 18 matchdays. Clashes took place in September, October and November in 2023, they will restart again a year later in 2024 and will conclude in September 2025.

With six teams qualifying and seventh-place progressing into the inter-continental play-offs, it is expected that all the major nations qualify. As of June 2024, Argentina, who have some of the best players in the world, currently sit top with 15 points, whilst bitter rivals Brazil are eight points behind in sixth, placing the pressure on them to perform when the qualification process resumes.

CAF World Cup Qualification

There are two years of qualifiers for African nations

Due to nine African teams qualifying for the World Cup instead of the previous five in 2022, the federation announced a new qualification system in May 2023. Teams were drawn into nine groups of six teams, with the winner of each group directly qualifying for the World Cup, while the four best group runners-up will participate in play-offs to determine which team will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs. The group stage used a round-robin home-and-away system — the same as the one used in Europe.

Matches started in November 2023, with the final round of clashes taking place in October 2025. Once the group stages have concluded and the winners have automatically booked their flight to North America, the second round will take place.

Featuring the four best runners-up, the semi-finals will take place on the opening days of the November 2025 international break, with the final a couple of days later. The team that wins the playoffs will still not have a place in the World Cup though, but they will advance to the inter-confederation battle.

CONCACAF World Cup Qualification

The three host nations automatically qualify

Mexico, Canada and the USA have already qualified for the tournament as host nations. Alongside this, CONCACAF were given three more places for nations in North America. In the main qualifying phase, 30 teams were drawn into six groups of five, playing round-robin home-and-away matches against each competitor. This stage started in June 2024 and will conclude a year later, with the winners and runners-up advancing to the third round.

The third round decides which three teams will qualify for the 2026 World Cup. The 12 teams who qualified from the second round will be split into three groups of four teams, with home-and-away matches taking place in September, October and November 2025. The group winners will secure a place in the World Cup, whilst the two best-ranked runners-up will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.

AFC World Cup Qualification

Asian nations have the longest road to World Cup 2026

Asia boast eight direct slots for the 2026 World Cup — and the federation have a notoriously long process to qualify. It began in October 2023 and saw the Asian teams ranked 27th to 46th play in a two-leg system to advance to the second round.

In the second round, every nation ranked 1st to 26th, alongside the 10 who advanced from the first round, were divided into nine groups of four teams to play one another home and away. This started in November 2023 and concluded in June 2024, with the winners and runners-up advancing to the third round.

The most important section comes in the third round where the 18 best teams from round two are divided into three groups of six. After playing one another home and away, the top two teams in each group will automatically qualify for the World Cup, whilst those who finish third and fourth will be forced to carry on fighting.

The six teams that finish third and fourth in the third round will then be placed into two groups of three. Playing one another in a single round-robin, the winners of both groups will qualify for the World Cup to take the final automatic spaces, whilst the runners-up will then contest a two-legged play-off in the fifth round to determine the Asian representative at the inter-confederation play-offs.

Inter-Confederation Play-Offs

Last-chance saloon

This section will involve six teams to decide the last two World Cup berths. One team from every federation apart from UEFA - they already have 16 countries going to North America - and an additional representative of the host region, which in this case is CONCACAF, will be involved in a high-stakes play-off system.

The two nations with the highest FIFA world ranking will be seeded, earning a bye to the finals. After a pair of knockout games between the four unseeded teams, the winners of these ties face their seeded counterparts for a place at the 2026 World Cup. A date for the mini-tournament has not yet been decided, but it is expected to take place in March 2026 in one of the US, Mexico or Canada.