The FIFA World Cup has been expanded to a 48-team competition for 2026. Here's a list of the nations that have made the cut.

Japan became the first national team to qualify through the World Cup qualifiers, with New Zealand and Argentina also clinching

As host nations, the United States, Mexico and Canada automatically qualify for the tournament. In the March 2025 window, we started seeing non-host nations qualify for the World Cup. The first to accomplish this feat was Japan on March 20. By the end of the March qualification window, four more had punched their tickets.

More than the negative result, as Argentina qualified for the World Cup earlier in the day and then beat them convincingly, Brazil were defeated also for the way they played, as the team coached by Lionel Scaloni showed to be much better at this stage.

Argentina is proving it can win without Lionel Messi, just in case he opts not to play in the 2026 World Cup. After Argentina secured a spot in next year's competition, the main question now is whether the 37-year-old star will play in his sixth tournament and try to win back-to-back championships.