Zurich: The line-up for the FIFA World Cup 2026 is now complete after six teams secured the remaining places, making the tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States the most inclusive in history.
Iraq were the last side to qualify, defeating Bolivia 2-1 in the final of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-Off Tournament at Monterrey Stadium in Mexico. Aymen Hussein scored the decisive goal, the 2,527th of the entire qualifying campaign — to earn Iraq the final berth in Group I alongside France, Senegal and Norway.
The marathon global qualifying journey, which spanned 899 matches over 937 days and began on September 7, 2023, came to a dramatic close on Tuesday.
A day of high tension started in Europe, where the remaining four of the continent’s 16 representatives were decided through gripping play-off matches. Czechia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Türkiye and Sweden emerged victorious to book their places in Groups A, B, D and F respectively.
The action then shifted across the Atlantic to Mexico, where the co-hosts provided the stage for the final two spots. DR Congo defeated Jamaica 1-0 in Guadalajara to secure their place in Group K and will now face Portugal in their opening match on June 17 in Houston, Texas.
It was fitting that the very last ticket was decided between Iraq, who played the most matches (21) during qualifying, and Bolivia, who along with the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia featured in 20 games each.
The play-off tournament also served as an ideal dress rehearsal for the venues in Guadalajara and Monterrey, which will host eight World Cup matches between them. A total of 163,799 fans attended the four play-off games across the two matchdays.
With the 48 teams now confirmed, preparations intensify for the expanded tournament, which will feature 104 matches across 16 host cities from June 11 to July 19, 2026. More than six million spectators are expected to fill the stadiums, while an estimated six billion people worldwide are projected to follow the competition through various platforms.
Tickets for the tournament remain available via the last-minute sales phase on a first-come, first-served basis at FIFA.com/tickets, with general public sales opening at 11:00 ET (17:00 CET) on Wednesday, April 1, 2026.
Following the conclusion of qualifying, the full match schedule has been updated. The kick-off time for the Group D encounter between Türkiye and Paraguay on June 19 in the San Francisco Bay Area has been brought forward one hour to 11:00 PM ET. As a result, the preceding match between Brazil and Haiti in Philadelphia will now start 30 minutes earlier at 8:30 PM ET.
