Fifa World Cup Qualification

FIFA World Cup qualification

Founded	1933; 91 years ago (1933)
Region	International (FIFA)
Number of teams	211 (currently eligible) 215 (overall)
Website	Official website
2026 FIFA World Cup qualification

Qualifying tournaments are held within the six FIFA continental zones, each organized by their respective confederations: AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North and Central America and the Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe). For each World Cup, FIFA decides the number of places in the finals allocated to each of the zones, based on the numbers and relative strengths of the confederations' teams.

As a courtesy, the host receives an automatic berth selection, as has happened with the immediate past tournament winner during much of the competition's history. All other finalists are determined on a standalone qualifying round achievement without regard to previous achievements.

The berths for the inaugural 1930 tournament were filled by invitation only. The 1934 one was the first one to have an actual qualifying phase. The first ever World Cup qualifying match was played on 11 June 1933, when Sweden defeated Estonia 6–2 in Stockholm, and the first goal was scored 7 minutes into the game, with some sources attributing it to Swedish captain Knut Kroon while others^[which?] credit it as an own goal by the Estonian goalkeeper Evald Tipner.

The number of teams entering qualification stages has increased steadily, and in response the final tournament has also been expanded (having 16 teams until 1978, then 24 between 1982 and 1994, then 32 between 1998 and 2022, and finally 48 from 2026 onwards). While the format of the qualifying tournaments has evolved, teams have always been grouped into zones which have remained relatively unchanged and roughly correspond to the continents. The teams from each zone compete for a fixed number of berths for the zone, with a limited number of places being awarded to winners of intercontinental play-offs.

Qualification berths by continent

The table below lists the numbers of berths allocated by FIFA for each continent in each tournament. It also shows the total number of teams that entered and played in every qualification cycle.

In the table, "H" denotes an automatic spot for the host, "C" denotes an automatic spot for the defending champion, and "inv" indicates the number of teams that were invited in 1930. Places in intercontinental play-offs are represented as fractions, as follows:

• 0.5 – a place in a direct play-off
• 0.25 – a place in a semi-final play-off (where the winner would then face yet another team for a spot in the finals)
• 1⁄3 – a place in a play-off tournament where two out of six teams would qualify

Places allocated for continents

	1930	1934	1938	1950	1954	1958	1962	1966	1970	1974	1978	1982	1986	1990	1994
Europe	4 inv	12	11 +H+C	7 +C	11 +H	9 +H+C	8+ 2×0.5	9 +H	8 +C	8.5 +H	8.5 +C	13 +H	12.5 +C	13 +H	12 +C
Africa	—	1		0		1	0.5	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	3
Asia	—		1	1	1		0.5		1	1	1	2	2	2	2
Oceania	—			0	0	0	0						0.5	0.5	0.25
North and Central America and Caribbean	2 inv	1	1	2	1	1	0.5	1	1 +H	1	1	2	1 +H	2	1.25 +H
South America	H+ 6 inv	2	1	4 +H	1 +C	3	3.5 +H+C	3 +C	3	2.5 +C	2.5 +H	3 +C	4	2.5 +C	3.5
Total berths	13	16	16		16							24
Teams in the finals			15	13
Entered qualification	—	32	34	32	37	51	54	69	69	97	105	107	119	111	145
Played in qualification		27	21	19	33	46	49	51	68	90	95	103	110	103	128
Qualified via qualification		14	10	9	13	14	14	14	14	14	14	22	22	22	22
Qualified without playing	13	2	6	7	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2

	1998	2002	2006	2010	2014	2018	2022	2026	2030	2034
Europe	14 +H	13.5 +C	13 +H	13	13	13 +H	13	16	2H
Africa	5	5	5	5 +H	5	5	5	9+1⁄3	H
Asia	3.5	2.5 +2H	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5 +H	8+1⁄3		H
Oceania	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	1+1⁄3
North and Central America and Caribbean	3	3	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3+ 2×1⁄3 +3H
South America	4 +C	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5 +H	4.5	4.5	6+1⁄3	3H
Total berths	32							48
Teams in the finals
Entered qualification	172	196	197	205	203	210	211
Played in qualification	168	193	194	199	202	208	204
Qualified via qualification	30	29	31	31	31	31	31	45	42	47
Qualified without playing	2	3	1	1	1	1	1	3	6	1

Notes