ISLAMABAD: The line-up for the FIFA World Cup 2026 has been completed with six teams clinching the remaining places among the 48 that will make the upcoming tournament in North America the most inclusive ever.
Iraq were the last team to qualify, defeating Bolivia in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-Off Tournament at Monterrey Stadium, Mexico, to earn the final spot in Group I alongside France, Senegal and Norway and bring to an end a global qualifying campaign that totaled 899 matches over 937 days.
A day of high drama began in Europe where from Zenica to Solna, Pristina to Prague, the remaining four of the continent’s 16 representatives were decided. Czechia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Türkiye and Sweden came through gripping play-off games to claim a place in FIFA World Cup 2026 Groups A (Czechia), B (Bosnia and Herzegovina), D (Türkiye), and F (Sweden) respectively.
The focus then switched across the Atlantic to Mexico where the FIFA World Cup 2026 co-hosts provided the stage on which the remaining two places were determined. Fans of DR Congo can now look forward to seeing their team play Portugal on 17 June in Houston, Texas after they defeated Jamaica 1-0 in Guadalajara to clinch the final spot in Group K.
It was fitting that the final berth at the FIFA World Cup 2026 came down to a match between Iraq and Bolivia. Iraq (21) played the most matches throughout qualifying, with Bolivia, as well as United Arab Emirates and Indonesia, featuring in 20. Iraq’s Aymen Hussein netted the last of the global qualifying campaign’s 2,527 goals, which were scored at an average of 2.8 goals per game, as a journey that started on 7 September 2023 came to an end.
The FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-Off Tournament also served as the ideal dress rehearsal for the venues in Guadalajara and Monterrey, which will host eight FIFA World Cup 2026 games between them, as they welcomed a total of 163,799 fans for four matches over the two matchdays.
Now, an unprecedented cast of 48 teams can prepare for the 104 matches that will be played across the 16 Host Cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States from 11 June to 19 July. More than six million fans are expected to fill stadiums during the tournament.
Additionally, an estimated six billion people globally are expected to engage with the competition through various mediums as the biggest standalone sporting event of all time proves, once again, how football unites the world.
