The World Cup will take place in Canada, Mexico and the United States from 11 June to 19 July

The final six nations have qualified for the 2026 World Cup, completing the expanded 48‑team line‑up for this summer's tournament.

DR Congo and Iraq were the last two teams to book their places in the 23rd edition of the World Cup to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico from 11 June to 19 July.

It rounded off a marathon qualification process that began in September 2023 and spanned six confederations before culminating in the high‑stakes Uefa and intercontinental play‑offs on 31 March.

The final four European teams were confirmed on Tuesday, with the big news being that four-time winners Italy were knocked out by Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Czech Republic, Turkey and Sweden also qualified.

DR Congo and Iraq booked their place with wins over Jamaica and Bolivia respectively.

Of the 48 teams participating, the three hosts qualified automatically while 43 places were earned via direct qualification from the confederations and two spots were determined by intercontinental play-offs.

With the full cast confirmed, attention now shifts towards the biggest World Cup staged.

A record 48 nations - up from the 32 that featured in Qatar four years ago - will take part in the 2026 edition, making it the largest World Cup field, with 104 matches to be played across three countries for the first time.

It will take place in 16 cities - 11 in the US, three in Mexico and two in Canada - between 11 June and 19 July.

The tournament will also last a record 39 days - an increase from 29 days in Qatar and 32 in 2014 and 2018 - and a new format features 12 groups of four.

Mexico will face South Africa in Mexico City's Estadio Azteca to open the tournament on Thursday, 11 June - 18 days after the conclusion of the Premier League season.

The top two teams from the 12 groups and the eight best third‑placed nations will advance into an expanded knockout phase that will begin with a round of 32.

The new world champion will be crowned at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium on 19 July.

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With games taking place across four time zones and at locations up to 2,800 miles apart, there will be a total of 13 different kick-off times.

That means for viewers in Europe, some games will be played from midnight onwards.

For example, all five of the group-stage matches in Kansas City will take place in the middle of the night UK time, with the earliest kick-off being 00:00 BST on Friday, 26 June for Tunisia against the Netherlands while the latest is a 03:00 BST start for Algeria versus Austria on Sunday, 28 June.

The San Francisco Bay Area hosts two games that will kick off at 05:00 BST - Austria versus Jordan on Tuesday, 16 June and Turkey versus Paraguay on Friday, 19 June.

There are also 05:00 BST games in Vancouver - Australia versus Turkey on Saturday, 13 June - and in Guadalupe, Mexico, when Tunisia take on Japan on Saturday, 20 June.

In total there will be 35 group-stage games that kick-off between 00:00 BST and 05:00 BST, which is almost half of the 72 fixtures for that stage.

However, the most common kick-off time is 20:00 BST, with 12 group-stage games taking place then.

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England - Group L

Wed, 17 June v Croatia - Dallas at 21:00 (15:00 local)

Tue, 23 June v Ghana - Boston at 21:00 (16:00 local)

Sat, 27 June v Panama - New Jersey at 22:00 (17:00 local)

Scotland - Group C

Sun, 14 June v Haiti - Boston at 02:00 (21:00 local)

Fri, 19 June v Morocco - Boston at 23:00 (18:00 local)

Wed, 24 June v Brazil - Miami at 23:00 (18:00 local)

All times BST unless stated

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European champions Spain are the favourites, having enjoyed an almost flawless route through qualification.

Their squad is packed with talent such as Pedri, Fabian Ruiz, Martin Zubimendi, 2024 Ballon d'Or winner Rodri and Lamine Yamal, who is one of the best young players in the world.

Just behind Spain, this generation of England players is tipped to land some silverware, having finished runners-up at the past two Euros.

Thomas Tuchel's team qualified for the World Cup with a perfect record, winning all of their matches without conceding a goal. They have a squad brimming with big names including Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane.

France are also strong contenders. Didier Deschamps' squad have a fearsome front line, including Bradley Barcola, Michael Olise, Kylian Mbappe and Hugo Ekitike, and the 2022 runners-up were unbeaten in European qualifying.

Defending World Cup champions Argentina won the South American qualifying group by a big margin, finishing nine points ahead of second-placed Ecuador.

With two Copa Americas and one World Cup win in just four years, the Albiceleste are looking strong.

Finally, despite an underwhelming qualification campaign - in which they finished fifth in the Conmebol table after losing six of their 18 matches - and winning the last of their record five World Cups 22 years ago, who would confidently rule out Brazil?

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Norway have not played in the World Cup since 1998 and have never got past the last 16, but with Manchester City's Erling Haaland scoring 16 goals in qualifying, they could be a surprise in the summer.

They were flawless in qualifying, winning all eight of their matches, including home and away victories over four-time winners Italy.

Morocco were another side to win all of their qualifying games and they sit eighth in the world rankings. They reached the final of this year's Africa Cup of Nations and, despite being beaten 1-0 by Senegal, they have been controversially awarded the title. They will likely be confident of advancing from a group that contains Brazil, Scotland and Haiti.

Egypt, featuring Mohamed Salah, will also expect to make it beyond a group that includes Belgium, New Zealand and Iran.

Japan are the strongest of the Asian sides and cruised through qualifying, conceding only three goals in 16 matches. And they recorded their first victory over England with a 1-0 friendly win at Wembley at the end of March. They will be up against the Netherlands, Tunisia and Sweden.

Colombia will be confident of a strongshowing after a good South American qualifying campaign in which they beat both Brazil and Argentina as they finished third overall.

What about the host nations? Well, Canada, in their third finals, could be a surprise. They have lost all six of their previous World Cup finals matches, but a kind draw has them in with Qatar, Switzerland and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Curacao had an unbeaten qualification campaign as they reached their first finals

Four nations are set to make their World Cup debut this summer.

The tiny Caribbean island of Curacao will become the smallest nation to participate in a World Cup when they take on Germany, Ivory Coast and Ecuador in Group E.

Curacao, 37 miles off the Venezuela coast, has a population of a little more than 150,000 (similar to Cambridge or Huddersfield) and a land area of 171 square miles, smaller than the Isle of Man.

They only became a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2010.

Cape Verde, meanwhile, are the third-smallest nation after Curacao and Iceland to reach the World Cup. The Blue Sharks secured top spot in their qualifying group ahead of African heavyweights Cameroon.

An archipelago of 10 islands in the Atlantic Ocean with a population of fewer than 525,000, Cape Verde gained independence from Portugal in 1975 and first attempted to reach the World Cup when it was held in Japan and South Korea in 2002. They face Spain, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in Group H

There are two debutants from Asia in Uzbekistan and Jordan.

The Uzbeks, who were the Asian Cup semi-finalists in 2011, ended their long wait for qualification under 2006 World Cup-winning Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro.

The White Wolves boast players such as Manchester City defender Abdukodir Khusanov and former Roma striker Eldor Shomurodov and will hope to make an impact in a group featuring Portugal, Colombia and DR Congo.

Jordan, meanwhile, finished behind South Korea with four wins and four draws from 10 matches in the third round of the qualifiers in Asia.

Ranked 64th in the world, their progress has been steady, reaching the final of the 2023 Asian Cup, when they were beaten by hosts Qatar. Argentina, Algeria and Austria await in Group J.

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