Ready for the world’s biggest sporting event? The countdown is on for the 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Spread across the countries (Canda, Mexico, and the U.S.), 48 teams will take part in the largest edition of the tournament ever.<\/p>\n Which teams are already in and which ones are close to booking their spot. Let’s dive in!<\/p>\n When is the World Cup?\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n The World Cup will run from June 11\u2013July 19, 2026. Spread across three countries, the tournament will culminate with the final on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The FOX family of networks and the FOX Sports app are your complete home for World Cup content, including live matches, complete highlights, commentary and analysis, and full-match replays.<\/p>\n What we know:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/ul>\n Who is in (alphabetical order, total World Cup appearances):<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/ul>\n What to expect in September matches:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Asia (AFC) \u2014<\/strong> Six countries in the region \u2013 Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Uzbekistan and South Korea are set. But there’s still two direct spots left. Qatar, the UAE, and Oman are in one group with Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Indonesia in the other. Those games will be played through September and October.\u00a0<\/p>\n South America (CONMEBOL) \u2014<\/strong> Uruguay, Colombia, and Paraguay are trying to book their direct spots. Argentina, Brazil\u00a0and Ecuador are already in. Venezuela, Peru, and Bolivia are in the mix for the intercontinental playoff spot. Chile is eliminated.\u00a0<\/p>\n Europe (UEFA) \u2014\u00a0<\/strong>No teams have qualified yet. Spain,\u00a0France,\u00a0Germany, and\u00a0Portugal will finally kick off their qualifying campaigns in September. Other heavyweights like\u00a0England, Italy and the\u00a0Netherlands have already begun.<\/p>\n North America\/Central America\/Caribbean (CONCACAF) \u2014<\/strong> Aside from the three co-hosts, no one from this region has booked their spot yet. There are 12 teams (split into three groups) who’ll begin a round-robin phase that runs through November. The three group winners will head directly to the World Cup. Look for teams like Costa Rica, Jamaica, and Honduras to be among the contenders.\u00a0<\/p>\n Africa (CAF)\u00a0\u2014<\/strong> There are nine groups of six teams, but no one has clinched a direct spot yet. Egypt has a sizable lead in its qualifying group, as do other contenders like\u00a0Morocco and\u00a0Senegal. Expect these teams to close it out in September.\u00a0<\/p>\n Oceania (OFA)\u00a0\u2014<\/strong> This is done and dusted, with\u00a0New Zealand already in and having this confederation’s only direct spot. The tiny island of\u00a0New Caledonia, officially a French overseas territory, still has a shot as a participant in the intercontinental playoff.\u00a0<\/p>\n The intercontinental playoffs, explained:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Ahead of the World Cup, two spots will be clinched in the playoffs that will take place in March 2026. Six teams will participate, with Europe (UEFA) being excluded from this round:<\/p>\n <\/ul>\n The two teams with the highest FIFA rankings will get byes to the two separate finals. The other four teams will face each other to reach those finalists. The two teams to emerge from this playoff round will go to the World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Check out the kickoff of the one year to go ceremony of the 2026 FIFA World Cup!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Region-by-region breakdown:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n AFC (Asia)<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n How many World Cup teams can qualify?\u00a0<\/strong> Who is in?<\/strong> What’s happened so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n The qualifying tournament in Asia started back in October 2023 with 46 teams participating. After three rounds of qualifying, six teams have booked World Cup spots, with two more direct spots up (and one playoff berth) up for grabs when Round 4 begins in September. Full standings can be found here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Round 4 consists of six teams (the third- and fourth-placed teams from Round 3), and split into two groups. Those group winners advance to the World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n The first group will be: Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman\u00a0 The runners-up go to Round 5, with the winner\u00a0then<\/i> heading to the intercontinental playoff.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n _____<\/p>\n CAF (Africa)<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n How many World Cup teams can qualify?<\/strong> Who is in?<\/strong> What’s happened so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n The qualifying process picks back up in September. There are 54 teams (now reduced to 52) split into nine groups of six teams each.\u00a0<\/p>\n The nine group winners will advance directly to the World Cup, and the four best second-place teams will fight for an intercontinental playoff spot. At the halfway point of the qualification phase, there are plenty of top teams in control of their respective groups.\u00a0<\/p>\n Teams like Egypt and South Africa are in control of their respective groups for the moment. Morocco, the 2022 World Cup surprise semifinals, are also in control in their group.\u00a0<\/p>\n The one wrinkle is Group E \u2013 which has been reduced to four teams after the disqualification of Congo and Eritrea \u2013 and how that could potentially affect whoever finishes in second place, since it may not have enough points to be considered for the intercontinental playoff phase.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the top two teams from each group, as things stand. Full standings can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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We are one year away from the 2026 FIFA World Cup | FOX Soccer<\/h3>\n
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8 automatically, 1 enters the playoffs<\/p>\n
Australia, Iran, Jordan, Japan, South Korea, Uzbekistan<\/p>\n
The second group will be: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Indonesia<\/p>\n
9 automatically, 1 enters the playoffs<\/p>\n
None qualified yet<\/p>\n
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