The line-up for the World Cup has been completed with six teams clinching the remaining places among the 48 that will make the upcoming tournament in North America the most inclusive ever.
The line-up for the World Cup has been completed with six teams clinching the remaining places among the 48 that will make the upcoming tournament in North America the most inclusive ever.
Iraq was the last team to qualify, defeating Bolivia in the World Cup Playoff Tournament at Monterrey Stadium, Mexico, to earn the final spot in Group I alongside France, Senegal and Norway. That ended a global qualifying campaign that totaled 899 matches over 937 days.
A day of high drama began in Europe where from Zenica to Solna, Pristina to Prague, the remaining four of the continent’s 16 representatives were decided. Czechia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkiye and Sweden came through playoff games to claim a place in Groups A (Czechia), B (Bosnia and Herzegovina), D (Turkiye), and F (Sweden) respectively.
The focus then switched across the Atlantic to Mexico where cup co-hosts provided the stage on which the remaining two places were determined. Fans of DR Congo can look forward to seeing their team play Portugal on June 17 in Houston, Texas after it defeated Jamaica, 1-0, in Guadalajara to clinch the final spot in Group K.
It was fitting that the final berth at the World Cup came down to a match between Iraq and Bolivia. Iraq (21) played the most matches throughout qualifying. Bolivia, as well as United Arab Emirates and Indonesia, featuring in 20. Iraq’s Aymen Hussein netted the last of the qualifying campaign’s 2,527 goals, which were scored at an average of 2.8 goals per match. Qualifying began on Sept. 7, 2023.
The FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-Off Tournament also served as the ideal dress rehearsal for the venues in Guadalajara and Monterrey, which will host eight FIFA World Cup 2026 games between them, as they welcomed a total of 163,799 fans for four matches over the two matchdays.
An unprecedented cast of 48 teams can prepare for the 104 matches that will be played across the 16 host cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States from June 11 to July 19. More than six million fans are expected to fill stadiums during the tournament.