Each year, the world’s top national teams compete in international qualifiers to find themselves at the next FIFA World Cup. FIFA sets out general guidelines for how qualifying should work, but the confederations are responsible for determining their own systems. Generally speaking, each confederation conducts national group stages and play-off rounds to decide the countries that will take part in the final tournament.
The group stage is split into several groups, with the teams in each group playing each other in a round-robin format (usually over two legs). At the end of each group phase, the team with the best record is crowned the group winner. If the teams finish tied, a system of tiebreakers is used to determine the group winner.
In the play-off round, the 12 second-place finishers from the group stage are joined by four of the highest-placing nations from the latest UEFA Nations League who have not already qualified, in a tournament separated out into four mini brackets. The winners of each of these mini brackets then earn one of the last two direct spots at the World Cup.
The process for the 2026 World Cup cycle is different, as a total of 48 teams are taking part in the competition. The first stage of qualifying saw the 20 lowest-ranked teams contest a three-match, two-leg knockout round in September and October. This round eliminated 10 teams, with the top team in each of these two rounds earning a place at the finals.