World Cup 2026: Will Mexico, USA and Canada qualify automatically?

Despite the joy of hosting the 2026 World Cup, for now, Mexico, the United States and Canada have a reason without automatically confirming the invite to that tournament,

it is customary that FIFA automatically assigns a ticket For each World Cup venue, this has been done since the first edition in 1930. But there may be an exception for 2026.

And it is that in 2017, before the approval of the candidacy of the United States, FIFA indicated that although a host country has the right to automatically qualify for the World Cup, In case of alliance between two or more countries it should be analyzed By the body to determine the process.

For 2026 World Cup, World Cup will have 48 guests and CONCACAF will have 6.5 placesAs per the first report given by FIFA itself.

In fact, FIFA already 16 cities announced to host the matches of the World Cup.

“simultaneously, The host nation will automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup And their place will be deducted from the quota assigned to their confederation.

“In the event that several countries jointly organize the tournament, The number of automatically qualified teams will be determined by the FIFA Council.”, FIFA reported at the FIFA Congress in May 2017, where it touched on the issue of host nations and their automatic classification for the last time.

Because in the event of an alliance between the countries to organize the World Cup, Mexico, the United States and Canada, FIFA left this window open. They still can’t automatically confirm your ticket Despite being the organizer.

How many places will there be and how will they be divided?

2026 world cup This will be the first event to be held with 48 guests, So the format has to be radically changed from what we are used to.

Input, There will be an increase in the number of quotas for each confederation and will be distributed equally. Europe with most of the quota, and Oceania with a slight increase.

CONCACAF will move from 3.5 to 6.5, the Confederation of African Football will move up from 5 to 9.5 places; CONMEBOL will go from 4.5 to 6.5, the Oceania Soccer Confederation from 0.5 places to 1.5; The Asian Football Confederation will add from 4.5 to 8.5 and UEFA will go from 13 to 16 places.

How will the 2026 World Cup be played?

With the increase in the number of guests for the World Cup, format is also set to change,

will be made now 16 groups with three teams, The first two classified from each region will automatically advance to the 32-team playoff, which will compete directly in the playoff to advance through the stages until reaching the final.