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First country qualifies for FIFA World Cup 2026 in Canada, U.S., Mexico

Adam Laskaris
Adam Laskaris
|
Mar 20 2025, 4:10 pm
First country qualifies for FIFA World Cup 2026 in Canada, U.S., Mexico

The FIFA World Cup will be coming to Canada in 2026 — and we’ve officially got an idea of who one of the visiting countries will be.

While hosts Canada, Mexico, and USA all earned automatic berths into the tournament’s first-ever 48-team field, Japan became the first team outside of North America to qualify for next year’s World Cup.

With a 2-0 win over Bahrain, Japan cemented their place in the tournament as one of the top two finishers in their group in the third round of Asian qualifying, with three more matches left to play.

The Asian Football Confederation will send at least eight countries to the World Cup, with six of the countries qualifying for their performances in the current qualifying round robin.

Winning six of seven matches while picking up a draw in another, Japan’s 24-2 goal differential put them in a class of their own in a six-team group that also includes Australia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Bahrain, and China.

Japan has qualified for the World Cup every year since 1998.

In the other two six-team groups in Asian qualifying, Iran and South Korea are the current leaders.

The next guaranteed berth will be coming this weekend from Oceania, with Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, and Tahiti in a four-team playoff.

Defending champion Argentina are also in a good position to qualify, as they sit atop the South American (CONMEBOL) standings with 25 points through 12 matches. There’s a chance they could qualify as soon as next week, with six of 10 teams having guaranteed berth into the tournament from South America.

CONCACAF — the North and Central American region — is missing three of its biggest teams in the hosts, and qualifying is still in the early stages, with teams in the second of three rounds. Three more teams will be named to the World Cup in November 2025.

African teams are split into nine six-team groups, with the winner of each group earning qualification.

Europe, meanwhile, is just getting their qualifying underway, with the first matches to be played starting on Friday.

For every confederation around the globe, a total of six runners-up that don’t directly qualify for the World Cup through their continent will have a final shot at next year’s inter-confederation playoffs, set for an undetermined date next year.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 11.

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