World Cup 2026

[Sutekh]

Brazil lose a World Cup qualifier at home for the first time ever. Argentina winning 1-0 overnight.

Brazil have now lost 3 of 6 qualifiers and languish in 6th. Absolutely no danger of them failing to qualify though as 6 sides now qualify from the 10 South American sides with a 7th going into a play-off.

Imagine the fuss kicked up if 60%-70% of UEFA countries were awarded qualifying places at world cup finals.

[Stranded]

Brazil lose a World Cup qualifier at home for the first time ever. Argentina winning 1-0 overnight.

Brazil have now lost 3 of 6 qualifiers and languish in 6th. Absolutely no danger of them failing to qualify though as 6 sides now qualify from the 10 South American sides with a 7th going into a play-off.

Imagine the fuss kicked up if 60%-70% of UEFA countries were awarded qualifying places at world cup finals.

Whilst I get your point, naturally the volumes make it very different but yes, it does get close to making a mockery of qualification as some teams barely have to try. In the last round of qualifying, for '22, if it had been a 48 team tournament, Chile would have made an inter-continental play-off having by winning just 5 of 18 games, losing 9 in the process. Hardly rewarding success.

Chile are currently ranked 37th in the World, as a comparison Turkey, who are 38th only Won 6 and lost 1 that was only good enough for a play-off then (lost SF game to Portugal) and would still only be good enough for the same in '26 qualifying.

[Sanguine]

Brazil lose a World Cup qualifier at home for the first time ever. Argentina winning 1-0 overnight.

Brazil have now lost 3 of 6 qualifiers and languish in 6th. Absolutely no danger of them failing to qualify though as 6 sides now qualify from the 10 South American sides with a 7th going into a play-off.

That's a mad stat.

FIFA have some work to do for 2030 - Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will qualify automatically, they must surely reduce the other available spots (i.e. to four), otherwise the whole confederation will be in.

[Stranded]

Brazil lose a World Cup qualifier at home for the first time ever. Argentina winning 1-0 overnight.

Brazil have now lost 3 of 6 qualifiers and languish in 6th. Absolutely no danger of them failing to qualify though as 6 sides now qualify from the 10 South American sides with a 7th going into a play-off.

That's a mad stat.

FIFA have some work to do for 2030 - Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will qualify automatically, they must surely reduce the other available spots (i.e. to four), otherwise the whole confederation will be in.

Imagine they will reverse what they have done this time. CONCACAF aslo have 6 spots - 3 hosts plus 3. So imagine they will just get 6 next time and CONEMBOL will go to 3 plus 3.

[RG30]

So the schedule came out last night including the choice of venue for the final. New Jersey's Met Life was chosen which was a slight surprise as all the talk in the last few weeks had been that Dallas had been picked because of the bigger capacity and the retractable roof.

US will play all 3 group matches on the West Coast (2 in LA, 1 in Seattle)
Canada will play opening group game in Toronto before flying West to play remaining matches in Vancouver.
Mexico will play opening group & last group game in Mexico City with second game in Guadalajara.

[Stranded]

So the schedule came out last night including the choice of venue for the final. New Jersey's Met Life was chosen which was a slight surprise as all the talk in the last few weeks had been that Dallas had been picked because of the bigger capacity and the retractable roof.

US will play all 3 group matches on the West Coast (2 in LA, 1 in Seattle)
Canada will play opening group game in Toronto before flying West to play remaining matches in Vancouver.
Mexico will play opening group & last group game in Mexico City with second game in Guadalajara.

I guess an East Coast venue has been chosen as it is the better time zone for the rest of the world to watch , without having the game kick off too early. Dallas is only an extra hour behind New Jersey but a 3pm start local time in NJ would be 8pm UK and 9pm/10pm for most of Europe/Africa. Asia will get it middle of the night but Australia/New Zealand would get the final as a Monday breakfast treat.

[Sutekh]

For the record, the 1994 final was played in Pasadena at 12.30 PDC (8 hours behind GMT) on 17 July.

[Stranded]

For the record, the 1994 final was played in Pasadena at 12.30 PDC (8 hours behind GMT) on 17 July.

And was so hot that the game was easily one of the worst finals in living memory.

[Sutekh]

An extra 10 days needed to complete the tournament thanks to the pathetic desire to ensure any elite nation that **** up their group gets the extra failsafe of two thirds of the 3rd places being good enough to qualify (not to mention Gerry Infantile's ongoing quest for £££££ over tournament integrity).

If it had been me at the insistance of a 48 team World Cup, I'd have gone down the route of trying to make the group stages really meaningful and exciting for everyone by saying just the group winners and 4 best placed SECOND placed teams would progress to a round of 16. Much better than the inevitable "borefests" that'll start breaking out in the current tournament design.

[Winston Biscuit]

AFC 2nd round qualifiers just completed.

Nations that progresses to the 3rd round of qualifying:

Qatar
Kuwait
Japan
North Korea
South Korea
China
Oman
Kyrgyzstan
Iran
Uzbekistan
Iraq
Indonesia
Jordan
Saudi Arabia
UAE
Bahrain
Australia
Palestine

In 2 weeks time the draw will be made for the 3rd round

The 3rd round is 3 groups of 6 teams. Games start in September and the top 2 from each group qualify for the World Cup.

The 6 teams that finish 3rd and 4th in their 3rd round groups progress to a 4th round of qualifying where they are split into 2 groups of 3 teams with the winners of the 2 groups going to the World Cup and the runners up playing each other to see which one goes into the inter confederation play off.

All of this means that in 4 months time there could be a nation or 2 from AFC who have already qualified for the world cup, yet there will also be another nation playing on until early 2026 to try and qualify

[Sutekh]

AFC 2nd round qualifiers just completed.

Nations that progresses to the 3rd round of qualifying:

Qatar
Kuwait
Japan
North Korea
South Korea
China
Oman
Kyrgyzstan
Iran
Uzbekistan
Iraq
Indonesia
Jordan
Saudi Arabia
UAE
Bahrain
Australia
Palestine

In 2 weeks time the draw will be made for the 3rd round

The 3rd round is 3 groups of 6 teams. Games start in September and the top 2 from each group qualify for the World Cup.

The 6 teams that finish 3rd and 4th in their 3rd round groups progress to a 4th round of qualifying where they are split into 2 groups of 3 teams with the winners of the 2 groups going to the World Cup and the runners up playing each other to see which one goes into the inter confederation play off.

All of this means that in 4 months time there could be a nation or 2 from AFC who have already qualified for the world cup, yet there will also be another nation playing on until early 2026 to try and qualify

[Stranded]

Qatar's late winner against India proving to be rather controversial. Ball appeared well over the line after the keeper made a good save. Qatar striker backheeled the motionless ball back into play allowing his teammate to nick the winner.

No VAR and linesman at that end was on the other side of the pitch so unsighted.

[Sanguine]

It's one thing to make a World Cup bid on the basis of stadiums that haven't yet been built, but Saudi Arabia has gone a step further. It's bid includes 11 new stadiums, including one at Neom, in as yet un-built city. The concept is a stadium 350-metres in the air.



Neom hosts the kingdom's 'The Line' project, a purpose built city 200m, wide and miles long, designed to have no cars or traditional streets.

[Clyde1998]

Noticed Japan beat China 7-0 - making it their biggest competitive loss and second biggest ever (behind an 8-0 defeat to Brazil in 2012). Good to see their huge investment in football is bearing fruit.

[Sutekh]

Noticed Japan beat China 7-0 - making it their biggest competitive loss and second biggest ever (behind an 8-0 defeat to Brazil in 2012). Good to see their huge investment in football is bearing fruit.

Can't help but hope Saudi goes the same way....

[Sanguine]

Never really sure how good these Middle East teams are meant to be - but I wouldn't have predicted the Aussies losing at home to Bahrain.

I'd forgotten that this next World Cup is expanded to 48 teams. It's going to be really hard not to qualify - but I guess quite cool to (hopefully) see some 'new' teams in it.

[Stranded]

Never really sure how good these Middle East teams are meant to be - but I wouldn't have predicted the Aussies losing at home to Bahrain.

I'd forgotten that this next World Cup is expanded to 48 teams. It's going to be really hard not to qualify - but I guess quite cool to (hopefully) see some 'new' teams in it.

Bahrain had 1 shot on target and just 28% possession - their winner was an 89th minute own goal. They aren't great but they frustrated the Aussies.

Australia will still qualify, in this round the top 2 in the 3 groups get direct qualification. 3rd and 4th go into a 4th round.

4th round is 2 groups of 3, winner of each group then qualifies. 2nd place in each group then play-off, winner of the play-off goes to an inter-continental play-off for a spot.

So a few safety nets to cover results like this.

And I thought the Rugby World Cup qualifying was the only one convoluted and weighted toward bigger/preferred nations.

[Winston Biscuit]

Paraguay 1-0 Brazil
Colombia 2-1 Argentina
Venezuela 0-0 Uruguay

Brazil have won just 3 of their 8 qualifiers so far and are only 1 point above 8th place in the CONMEBOL group

[Sutekh]

Paraguay 1-0 Brazil
Colombia 2-1 Argentina
Venezuela 0-0 Uruguay

Brazil have won just 3 of their 8 qualifiers so far and are only 1 point above 8th place in the CONMEBOL group

Given the ridiculously "safe" qualifying for countries 7th is probably still more than enough to qualify though.

[Winston Biscuit]

Paraguay 1-0 Brazil
Colombia 2-1 Argentina
Venezuela 0-0 Uruguay

Brazil have won just 3 of their 8 qualifiers so far and are only 1 point above 8th place in the CONMEBOL group

Given the ridiculously "safe" qualifying for countries 7th is probably still more than enough to qualify though.

'greed. bit of a shame really, could have made things very tasty.

Previous world cups saw the top 4 qualify automatically and the 5th place go into a play off. So right now Brazil are sat in what was previously the play off position. The last 3 play off opponents for the 5th placed team in South America were Australia, New Zealand & Jordan.