World Cup 2026 FIFA World Cup (Qualifiers)

[RossFC]

 

[Hamingja]

World Cup has loss the prestige.
Way too many countries.
The fact that Scotland has made it and Ireland is in playoffs. Yeah, the quality is going to be poor

Scotland and Ireland are both currently better sides than we are

 

[Topkent]

Scotland and Ireland are both currently better sides than we are

****ing miles better lol.

 

[corbies]

He may be blunt but he does have a point as an European manager. He’s directing his annoyance at the wrong confederation.
Asian having 8.5 is nutso. UEFA should have 16 tbh. And still the bottom 8 teams would beat nearly all confederations

UEFA have 16.

 

[Satan]

World Cup: Curacao become smallest nation to qualify for World Cup after Jamaica draw

Curacao have become the smallest nation to qualify for the World Cup after drawing with Steve McClaren's Jamaica.

www.bbc.com

 

[RPCB]

The best thing about the 48 country World Cup is all the first time qualifiers. Can’t wait to see the likes of Curacao, Cape Verde, Jordan and Uzbekistan playing against the biggest countries in the world, who they would normally not play against. Even Haiti, they have made their first since 1974.

 

[Zidane98]

The best thing about the 48 country World Cup is all the first time qualifiers. Can’t wait to see the likes of Curacao, Cape Verde, Jordan and Uzbekistan playing against the biggest countries in the world, who they would normally not play against. Even Haiti, they have made their first since 1974.

Haiti will want better luck with their group than '74:




Copping Italy & Argentina in the same group was bloody harsh even back then.

 

[Satan]

Haiti will want better luck with their group than '74:

View attachment 2481680


Copping Italy & Argentina in the same group was bloody harsh even back then.

we had ,west germany ,east germany and chile in 74

 

[ioppolo]

Costa Rica and Honduras couldn't even make the qualifier playoffs of an expanded world cup. That's quite an embarrassment for two teams that have been CONCACAF regulars this millenium.

 

[RossFC]

 

[Bradesmaen]

Haiti will want better luck with their group than '74:

View attachment 2481680


Copping Italy & Argentina in the same group was bloody harsh even back then.

Yet their worst loss was to Poland?

 

[largebus]

Steve McLaren resigned as Jamaica boss despite them still having a chance to qualify through the inter continental playoffs.

 

[largebus]

Inter confederation playoffs in March:

DR Congo will player the winner of New Caledonia vs Jamaica

Iraq will play the winner of Bolivia vs Suriname

The winners of those matches will qualify for the world cup in pot 4. All games are in Mexico

 

[largebus]

UEFA Playoff semi finals, home team listed first:

Path A
Italy v Northern Ireland
Wales v Bosnia

Path B
Ukraine v Sweden
Poland v Albania

Path C
Türkiye v Romania
Slovakia v Kosovo

Path D
Denmark v North Macedonia
Czechia v Ireland

The winners of the bolded matches will host the resulting final in each path. The final winners will qualify for the WC, again in pot 4.

Very favourable for Wales

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Italy lose 2 matches. Need to win two play-off matches to make the WC.
Brazil lose 6 matches and qualify directly 8 points above play-off positions.

 

[Bradesmaen]

Italy lose 2 matches. Need to win two play-off matches to make the WC.
Brazil lose 6 matches and qualify directly 8 points above play-off positions.

6 groups of 9, rid of the nations league. Top 2 qualify automatically, next best in each group go to a tournament where the top 2 ranked teams are waiting for the winners of the semis. Simple and guarantees more top team action.

 

[ioppolo]

Inter confederation playoffs in March:

DR Congo will player the winner of New Caledonia vs Jamaica

Iraq will play the winner of Bolivia vs Suriname

The winners of those matches will qualify for the world cup in pot 4. All games are in Mexico

Bolivia and DR Congo for me.

 

[largebus]

Bolivia and DR Congo for me.

If Arnie can beat Denmark he can beat Bolivia

 

[Frank Bunn]

UEFA Playoff semi finals, home team listed first:

Path B
Ukraine v Sweden
Poland v Albania

The winners of the bolded matches will host the resulting final in each path. The final winners will qualify for the WC, again in pot 4.

Ukraine have been playing their home games in Poland. I wonder if Ukraine and Poland both get through then Ukraine might opt to switch the final to a different neutral venue.

 

[Zidane98]

Yet their worst loss was to Poland?

Good point. And Poland were not that good back then in the iron curtain days.

 

[Cruyff14]

Good point. And Poland were not that good back then in the iron curtain days.

What? Lato was the top scorer at the World Cup with seven, and they finished third.

It was their golden era.

 

[Zidane98]

I have to say 6 + 2 inter confederation playoff places for CONCACAF is overkill.

Yes, 3 teams are automatically qualifying as hosts. I note in 2002 AFC had 2 automatic qualifiers (Japan/S Korea as hosts).

In addition they got only a further 2.5 places (Iran lost a playoff to Ireland so only 2 in the end). I know it was a 32 team tournament back then but still it looks like AFC didn't get anything extra for having a couple of automatic qualifiers.

The highest ranked team in CONCACAF qualifying was Panama at 41! In addition to this, 24 out of 32 nations participating were all ranked outside top 100. And nearly half of those teams are ranked 150 or lower with 4 of worst teams in world rankings coming from CONCACAF qualifying.

For me, given the above CONCACAF should have been allocated only 3.5 places in addition to USA/Mexico/Canada for this WC. It is by far the weakest confederation.

 

[Zidane98]

What? Lato was the top scorer at the World Cup with seven, and they finished third.

It was their golden era.

My mistake, you are correct. My memories of them being poor was actually from the 90s.

 

[RPCB]

Speaking of countries that used to be great at football but aren’t anymore, I wish we lived in a world where Hungary have won a World Cup.

Beat West Germany 8-3 in the group stage and led them 2-0 in the final before losing 3-2 in 1954.

 

[ExchangeStatMan]

Steve McLaren resigned as Jamaica boss despite them still having a chance to qualify through the inter continental playoffs.

Dont really understand the logic of him resigning when they are still in contention to qualify. Yes I do understand its the backway of entering a tournament but they are every chance of still making the World Cup with a reasonable first round against an Oceania tournament.

And anything can happen in a 1-off knock out game for a World Cup on the line.

Ukraine have been playing their home games in Poland. I wonder if Ukraine and Poland both get through then Ukraine might opt to switch the final to a different neutral venue.

England sounds like the logical place if that were to happen I'd assume? Emirates Stadium seem to host a fair few 'neutral fixtures' these days.

FIFA pretty sure assesses World Cup allocations from tournament to tournament , especially will apply for 2030, based on 2026 performance by confederation. There is no magic formula, but I guess like the AFL priority pick system, its assessed internally.

 

[Zidane98]

Dont really understand the logic of him resigning when they are still in contention to qualify. Yes I do understand its the backway of entering a tournament but they are every chance of still making the World Cup with a reasonable first round against an Oceania tournament.

And anything can happen in a 1-off knock out game for a World Cup on the line.


England sounds like the logical place if that were to happen I'd assume? Emirates Stadium seem to host a fair few 'neutral fixtures' these days.

FIFA pretty sure assesses World Cup allocations from tournament to tournament , especially will apply for 2030, based on 2026 performance by confederation. There is no magic formula, but I guess like the AFL priority pick system, its assessed internally.

Ukraine would want to play as close as possible to home. If they were playing Poland I'd expect them to play in either Moldova, Romania or Hungary.