The 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada will be the first World Cup with the participation of 48 teams and extending over 40 days. This edition witnesses the presence of eight Arab teams for the first time. Below is a detailed presentation of the new competition system and the chances of these teams to pass the first round.

Published on: 04/21/2026 - 14:27 Last updated: 04/21/2026 - 14:29

48 teams and 104 matches over 40 days. The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the first edition to witness the participation of this number of teams. This is a fundamental change in the competition, which has had 32 teams since the 1998 World Cup in France.

The competition runs from June 11 to July 19 in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The 48 teams were divided into 12 groups, and the top two teams from each group qualified for the round of 32, accompanied by the eight best third-placed teams, based on points and then goals.

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Starting on June 28, 32 teams will start in the direct elimination rounds, then the quarter-finals, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the grand final scheduled for Melt Life Stadium in New Jersey on July 19, 2026.

A first edition of 48 teams and 12 groups

Thinking about expanding participation in the World Cup began in 2017. The increase in the number of teams participating in the finals caused the competition to change for the first time since the World Cup in France, until the 2022 Qatar World Cup, when only those in first and second place qualified for the final price.

This time there will be 12 groups, and each team will play three matches to qualify for the round of 32.

The increase in the number of teams brought the number of matches to 104, up from 64 since 1998. The team that wins the title will have to play 8 matches instead of 7 in the previous editions.

This is the third time that the number of teams participating in the tournament has been increased, as the number of participants was 16 from the second tournament in 1934 until 1978, and the number was increased to 24 in the 1982 tournament, then 32 in 1998. Note that only 13 teams participated in the first tournament in 1930 due to a number of teams refraining from traveling to Uruguay or being unable to reach it due to the distance, as was the case with Egypt.

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Group stage

The draw for the group stage for the 2026 World Cup was drawn in Washington on December 5, and the qualifying teams were divided into 12 groups.

The group standings will be according to the usual system: three points for a win, one point for a draw, and zero for defeat.

If the teams are equal in number of points, they will be separated according to the following criteria:

How are the third-best finishers determined?

The best third mechanism was tested in the African Cup of Nations, the Asian Cup, and the European Nations Cup, and the mechanism returns to the World Cup for the first time since the 1994 World Cup in the United States. It is a system that may put us in front of exciting scenarios, such as what happened in the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, when the host country’s team miraculously qualified in third place to make its way to the title, and also in the 2016 European Nations Cup, when the Portuguese team settled for three draws in the first round and qualified in third place to win the title in the end at the expense of the host France.

Here is the mechanism for testing the eight teams in third place:

Knockout rounds

After the group stage, 32 qualified teams enter the direct elimination rounds.

The direction of the draw was determined in advance, even for the teams that qualified in third place, so that the path would be clear from the round of 32 until the final match.

Qualifiers according to continental federations:

Asia: 9 teams

Africa: 10 teams

CONCACAF North America: 6 teams

South America: 6 teams

Oceania: 1 team

Europe: 16 teams

Does this system serve the Arab teams?

After Iraq qualifies from the World Cup at the expense of Bolivia, Arab participation will be a record in the American World Cup with 8 countries: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Qatar, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt.

These teams' chances of reaching the second round will be relatively easier than previous editions, given that losing two matches does not necessarily mean exiting the first round, as one win is sufficient to compete for the best third place.

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A difficult task for Tunisia, Qatar and Iraq

It will be a very difficult task for Tunisia, Qatar and Iraq to reach the second round because they are placed in iron groups with strong teams that include two European teams, as Iraq plays France, Senegal and Norway, and Qatar concedes to Bosnia, Canada and Switzerland, while Tunisia faces Sweden, Japan and the Netherlands.

A legitimate dream for Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia

The easiest draw on paper was for the Egyptian team, which will play with one European team, which is Belgium, in addition to the Iranian team, whose participation remains subject to debate due to the American-Israeli war on the Islamic Republic, and the New Zealand team.

We will have a date with an exclusively Arab confrontation between Algeria and Jordan in a group that includes Austria and Argentina, and the winner of this match will be on the cusp of the second round.

As for Saudi Arabia, despite the shaky performance in the last friendly matches and a humiliating defeat by Egypt in a four-way match in Jeddah Stadium that led to the dismissal of French coach Herve Renard, it can hope to reach the second round when it faces Cape Verde, which is participating for the first time in the World Cup.

Morocco aspires to play advanced roles after the completion of the World Cup in Qatar

The only Arab team whose officials explicitly expressed that they will go to America with the aim of playing advanced roles is Morocco. The President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, Fawzi Lakjaa, stated months ago that the “Atlas Lions” will not wait for the 2030 World Cup, which will be held in the Kingdom with Spain and Portugal, to try to win the World Cup.

Logically, Morocco, which reached the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, will not face great difficulty in qualifying from a group that includes Brazil, Scotland, and Haiti, with the hope that the path of the qualifying rounds will be appropriate for reaching the advanced stages.

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