Information
The first FIFA World Cup game will be held on June 11, 2026, with the host nations being the United States, Canada and Mexico. All of the nations competing will be relatively the same as the last world cup, but there are bound to be some differences as there are many young rising stars for their nation.
To actually qualify for the World Cup, there are different confederations for the designated nation. There are a total of six groups and each is for specific nations. Those include the AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC and UEFA.
Qualifying information and stats
The AFC (Asian Football Confederation), are currently in the third round of the qualifiers and only have a few more games until the fourth round. In which the highest ranked nation in group A and B will qualify for the World Cup. The second place nations in those groups will go into a playoff or fifth round in which they will compete for a spot for the cup. The third place team in the groups will unfortunately be eliminated from their competition. The AFC is looking bright, as in the history of the competition, 572 goals have been scored in the 199 matches played, provided by Wikipedia. The top three goal scorers being Almoez Ali with 12 goals, Son Heung-min with 10 and Mehdi Taremi with nine.
The CAF (Confederation of African Football), had 54 nations enter the qualification for the World Cup in their competition and had to be separated into nine groups. The top nation in those groups would qualify for the World Cup whereas the second ranked in the group would go into a bracket to be ranked. The remaining teams in the groups would be eliminated from the competition. The second ranked nation from their specified groups were ranked by the most points and only the top four would qualify for the second round. The second round will be played in November of this year and the nation that wins it all will be able to secure their ticket into the World Cup. The CAF have played 154 games in the history of the competition. In that time, 375 goals have been scored and the current leading goal scorer in the competition is Mohamed Salah with six goals.
The CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football), are currently in the second round of their qualifiers and also only have a few more games until the nations are placed into round three. The top two performing teams in round two will go into a third round in three different groups. The first place nation in that group will qualify while the second will go into another round in which only one nation will qualify. In the total 33 matches played, 115 goals have been scored with the top scorer being Rangelo Janga with three goals.
The CONMEBOL (South American Football Confederation), only has ten nations in the competition. All nations are placed in a table and they are competing to place in the top six. If doing so, those nations will go to the World Cup while the seventh place team goes into a playoff game with the runner ups of the other nations competing. The last match of this competition will be played in September 2025, against Ecuador and Argentina. Tied for first place, Lionel Messi and Luis Díaz have six goals in the competition.
The OFC (Oceania Football Confederation), have finished their competition already with New Zealand being the nation to qualify for the World Cup. They won the game (0-3) against New Caledonia on March 20. This competition also used a three round system with the top performing nations in each group advancing. There were 73 goals scored in 18 matches with the top scorer being Chris Wood with nine goals.
UEFA (Union of European Football Associations), holds all European nations for their part of the tournament. They are doing a two round system; the first placing team in each group going to the World Cup and the remaining nations going to a playoff. The current top scorer for this competition is Patrick Schick with three goals.
Overview and odds
This upcoming World Cup is bound to bring much needed excitement for soccer fans all over the world. Though Argentina were the champions in the 2022 World Cup, there are many new favorites to win the 2026 cup. Many fans predict nations such as France, Spain and England to win with superstar Lionel Messi out of Argentina’s first squad.
