World Cup 2026: how are the quotas distributed in order to qualify?

Luis Díaz and James, in the match against Bolivia.

The venues for the event that will have three organizing countries are already known.

The 2026 World Cup, which Fifa will do to the United States, Canada and Mexico in joint headquarters, it will be the first to be played with 48 teams, which implies modifications in the quotas for each Confederation.

Quotas to the World Cup

According to what has been reported since 2017, Europe would be left with 16 places, Africa with nine, Asia with eight, Conmebol and Concacaf with six each and Oceania, finally, would have a direct place.

Two boxes would remain, which will be played in a playoff tournament, with the participation of a team from each confederation, not counting Uefa, plus a selection from Concacaf, the confederation that will host that World Cup.

The format of that repechage would put the top two placed in the Fifa standings straight into a semi-final. The other four would meet in two keys. The winners will face the two seeds and the winners of that semifinal will go to the World Cup.

(You may be interested in: World Cup 2026: Why does the United States have more venues than Canada and Mexico?)

In this way, South America would have the possibility of taking seven of its ten affiliated teams to that World Cup, if seventh in the table wins that repechage. The hard part will be staying out.

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