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
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