International qualifiers are the gateway to competing at the highest level of international football. They not only determine the teams that will play on the world stage, but also heighten national pride and unite communities. They are also a major source of excitement for fans around the globe, with many countries focusing on ramping up training sessions and implementing new tactics to secure the all-important points needed to qualify.
The 2026 qualification began with 54 FIFA-affiliated nations, but Eritrea withdrew before matches began and Congo were suspended by FIFA on Feb. 6 due to government interference. The remaining 55 competed in nine groups of six teams in a home-and-away round-robin format over the September, October, and November 2025 FIFA match windows. The group winners will qualify directly for the 2026 tournament, joining co-hosts Canada, Mexico, and the United States, while the two best second-place finishers will advance to a two-legged inter-confederation playoff tie against the winner of the CONCACAF championship.
Typically, the top team of each group automatically qualifies to the next round, while the other three places are awarded by a tiebreaker based on aggregate score and head-to-head comparison (and goal difference in the case of a deadlock). However, this is not always the case, as some qualifying rounds have ties decided by other criteria such as away goals or extra time.