January 24 – The draw for the Concacaf World Cup 2026 qualifiers will be held in FIFA’s Zurich headquarters tomorrow (January 25).
Canada, Mexico, and the US are already qualified as hosts of the first edition of the expanded 48 team finals. qualify directly to the tournament as hosts of the FIFA World Cup 2026.
There are three more direct berths into the 2026 finals, plus two more opportunities via the FIFA Play0ff Tournament.
All 32 eligible Concacaf teams are competing in the qualifiers that start with the four lowest ranked Concacaf nations playing off for two slots in second round groups.
Turks and Caicos play Anguilla while British Virgin Islands meet US Virgin Islands for the two round 2 group berths.
The remaining 30 nations will be seeded by world ranking and then drawn into six groups of five teams. Teams will play each other once over four match dates between June 2024 and June 2025.
The winners and runners up will qualify for the third group round of 12 teams that will be divided into three groups of four. Teams will play home and away over six match dates in September, October, and November 2025.
The three group winners will qualify directly for the World Cup 2026, while the best two runners-up will represent Concacaf in the Play-off Tournament.
With so much of FIFA’s 2026 operations now being located in the US, that Concacaf are going to Zurich for their draw is clearly logical.
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