Which major soccer countries will miss 2026 FIFA World Cup?
Starting more than three years ago, the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification process is now almost complete.
39 of 206 teams competing have wrapped up their spots in next year’s 48-team tournament, with co-hosts Canada, Mexico, and the United States all having earned automatic qualifying spots to bring the total of confirmed teams to 42.
But with just six spots remaining, there are a few surprise names that haven’t yet snagged their tickets for next year.
Seven of the previous eight countries to win at least one FIFA World Cup have qualified so far, with one notable omission: Italy. The four-time winner is remarkably on the verge of missing its third-straight World Cup, despite winning the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament (postponed to 2021).
There are 16 European teams with a shot at qualifying, though the going will get tough in the final playoff round. Each team will be drawn into a final group of four, with four knockout playoff winners set to decide the final European berths.
Four of these European teams will qualify, which means 12 will not.
- Albania
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Ireland
- Italy
- Kosovo
- North Macedonia
- Northern Ireland
- Poland
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Sweden
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- Wales
Italy (or any of the other teams listed above) will need to win their next two qualifying matches in order to make the World Cup.
Greece, Hungary, and Serbia are three other European nations with various levels of international soccer success that are also all outside of the World Cup picture, having failed to qualify to the last round.
For the rest of the world, there’s the interconfederation playoff route, which is a last-ditch effort for six teams around the globe to secure one of two spots.
Bolivia, DR Congo, Iraq, Jamaica, New Caledonia, and Suriname will face off in March in Mexico in two separate three-team mini-tournaments to claim the final spot. DR Congo and Iraq have byes to their respective finals, meaning they’ll be in the FIFA World Cup with one win, while the other four countries will need two more wins to secure their spot.
The draw for Europe’s final round is announced on Thursday, as is the interconfederation playoff draw.
In Africa, World Cup regulars Nigeria and Cameroon both bowed out in the final round of qualifying, missing out on the chance to represent their continent.
In South America, Chile, Peru, and Venezuela all failed to qualify, getting bounced from a ten-team gauntlet that has a case for the world’s deepest confederation.
And despite being the world’s biggest country, China has also been unable to qualify for the sixth consecutive World Cup, having only been to the tournament once in its history.
Who has qualified for the FIFA World Cup?
Forty-two teams are in the 2026 FIFA World Cup so far, with Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan all qualified for the first time.
- Algeria
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Canada
- Cape Verde
- Colombia
- Croatia
- Curaçao
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- England
- France
- Germany
- Ghana
- Haiti
- Iran
- Ivory Coast
- Japan
- Jordan
- Mexico
- Morocco
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Portugal
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- Scotland
- Senegal
- South Africa
- South Korea
- Spain
- Switzerland
- Tunisia
- United States
- Uruguay
- Uzbekistan
If you haven’t seen a country on the list, that means that they’ve been eliminated from their respective qualifying list unless they’re one of the 22 teams mentioned above still vying for a place.
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