2026 FIFA World Cup: Discover the Teams Securing Their Spot and the Emotional Journey Behind the Qualifiers

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A bicycle-kick goal, last-minute thrillers, historical breakthroughs, smiles and tears — the latest FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers delivered the full range of emotions, with several national teams securing their tickets to next year’s showpiece event.

As November qualifying matches wrap up, 14 additional teams have secured their places at the tournament, bringing the total number of qualified teams to 42.

Next year’s men’s World Cup has expanded from 32 teams to 48 teams for the first time. The remaining six qualifying teams will be decided through play-off matches in March.

The qualifiers started worldwide in October 2023, with Japan the first team to qualify.

The 42 qualified nations, including Australia, will find out who their opponents will be at the World Cup 2026 final draw in Washington DC on Saturday 6 December (AEDT).

The World Cup qualification journey is in full swing, and here’s a summary of the teams that have punched their tickets to the prestigious tournament, as well as those still in the running.

A total of 11 European nations have successfully qualified for the World Cup in North America. These teams include Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, and Switzerland.

Let’s start with the most surprising name: Curaçao.

The small Caribbean nation, with a population of 156,000 and an area of 444 sq km, has made history as the smallest country to qualify for the World Cup following a 0-0 draw against Jamaica in Kingston on Wednesday (AEDT).

Alongside Curaçao, Panama, and Haiti are the other teams that qualified from the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football in the recent qualifying fixtures.

Image Credit: SBS

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Before the qualification matches held from November 14 to November 19, England was the sole European team to have already secured their spot in the tournament.

Austria locked in their qualification with a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Which teams can still qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup?

This is not the end of the World Cup qualifier thrillers, with the final six places at the tournament to be decided in March.

Sixteen teams from Europe will play off for four places and six teams from the rest of the world will play off for two places.

Twelve of the European teams finished runner-up in their group and the remaining four teams finished third in their qualifying group but made the playoffs because they were among the four best-ranked UEFA Nations League group winners.

The 16 teams in the European play-offs are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Denmark, Italy, Kosovo, Poland, the Republic of Ireland, Slovakia, Türkiye, Ukraine, Wales, Romania, Sweden, Northern Ireland, and North Macedonia.

Two other qualifiers come from the winners of an Interconfederation playoff, which will be played between the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jamaica, Suriname, New Caledonia, Bolivia and Iraq — coached by Australian Graham Arnold.

Which big names won’t be at the World Cup?

While teams such as Curaçao, Uzbekistan, and Cape Verde are making their World Cup debuts, and others are reappearing after several years, some big football names are going to miss the tournament.

Serbia, Greece, and Hungary are the best-known European teams that have not qualified for next year’s World Cup.

Four-time World Cup winners Italy will have to qualify through the play-offs and are in danger of missing the tournament for the third time in a row, after failing to make Qatar 2022 and Russia 2018.

Chile, a two-time Copa America winner, has also failed to qualify for the tournament.

African giants Nigeria and Cameroon, who have qualified for the World Cup six and seven times, respectively, will also not feature in the tournament.