CONCACAF’s plans for 2026 World Cup Qualifying have been revealed.
A 30-nation second round has been divided into six qualifying groups, the federation announced Thursday. The United States, Mexico, and Canada have already been guaranteed automatic berths with all three countries set to host the World Cup in 2026.
12 finalists from the second round will then fight for three final automatic qualification spots into the expanded World Cup.
Each nation will play four matches that will be scheduled for June 2024 and June 2025. The top two nations in each group will advance, and the 12 teams will be drawn into three groups of four.
Each of those countries will play six games from September through November in 2025, with the three group winners qualifying alongside the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
The top two third-place teams will advance to the intercontinental playoffs that include one nation each from South America, Africa, Asia and Oceania, The four lowest-ranked teams will be drawn into a pair of single-elimination matches with the winners advance to single-elimination games against the teams with byes.
The winners of those two games will also reach the World Cup.
CONCACAF previously announced that the lowest-ranked teams will play home-and-home series this March to reach the second round, with Anguilla facing the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands meeting the British Virgin Islands.
Jamaica, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador will be among the favorites to reach the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Here is a closer look at the WCQ Groups:
Group A: Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Honduras
Group B: Bahamas, Costa Rica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad & Tobago
Group C: Aruba, Barbados, Curaçao, Haiti, St. Lucia
Group D: Belize, Guyana, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Panama
Group E: Dominica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Jamaica, British Virgin Islands-U.S. Virgin Islands winner
Group F: El Salvador, Puerto Rico, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Turks and Caicos Islands-Anguilla winner
I’d bet on Jamaica, Panama, and Honduras making the WC directly. Then probably Costa Rica and either El Salvador or Haiti making the intercontinental playoff. I want to see Haiti make it but El Salvador will probably find a way to get through.
Then the intercontinental playoff is going to be a blast to watch. No word beaters, obviously, but teams that never get world wide exposure playing vastly different styles matching up. Who wouldn’t want to watch Haiti vs the Solomon Islands or maybe Paraguay vs Uzbekistan. Should be fun.
People like to sneer that the World Cup gets “watered down” by expansion…I personally disagree. The World Cup is supposed to be, well, the world’s Cup, and the more inclusive it can be made, the better it is.
Soccer’s popularity also only continues to expand, and countries that years ago could never have aspired to compete at that level now can – I mean, Saudi Arabia beat Argentina in their first match last year in Qatar – and at any rate, there’s always been only so many teams that realistically had a chance of winning the whole thing anyway. The Group Stages have always been for the masses, the knockouts for the elite. Due to the US’s stadia and travel infrastructure, FIFA could have easily supersized this upcoming 2026 World Cup and expanded it to 64 teams…and they absolutely should have. When you expand to 48 you’re adding another level of knockout rounds anyhow…so why not go all the way to 64 since it requires no more levels than the 48 would?
So let the Eurosnobs sneer; the Eurosnobs are going to sneer regardless. Be inclusive and think even bigger. No, I don’t think the Guatamalas and El Salvadors are going to be particularly competitive, but why not give them a chance to prove it? As long as we’re not talking 8-0 blowouts against the likes of rando island nations, I see no harm whatsoever in making the competition as inclusive as possible as long as nations aren’t being just humiliated.
well put!
Yes
Love it