The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the twenty third FIFA World Cup tournament and will be held in Canada, Mexico and USA from 11 June to 19 July, 2026. It will be the first World Cup hosted by three nations and the second FIFA World Cup to be hosted in North America.
This tournament will be the first to include 48 teams, expanded from 32.
- 1. Host selection
- 2. Qualifying
- 4. Wales and the 2026 World Cup
- 5. Wales players used during qualifying
- 6. Wales players used during the tournament
The bidding process was due to start in 2015, with the appointment of hosts scheduled for the FIFA Congress on 10 May 2017 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but was postponed due to the 2015 FIFA corruption case and the subsequent resignation of Sepp Blatter.
Two bids to host the event were submitted to FIFA, a joint bid by Canada, Mexico and the United States, and one by Morocco. On 13 June 2018, at the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow, Russia the joint bid was selected by 134 votes to Morocco's 65.
206 FIFA nations applied to enter the qualifying process, Russia were suspended indefinitely on 28 February 2022 from participating in UEFA and FIFA competitions due to their country's invasion of Ukraine.
Eritrea withdrew from the qualifying campaign following the draw for the CAF qualifiers.
Hosts, Canada, Mexico and USA qualify automatically whilst the remaining 45 places, have been allocated with 16 to Europe (UEFA), five to South America (CONMEBOL), one to the North and Central American and Caribbean (CONCACAF), eight to Africa (CAF) and seven to Asia (AFC) whilst one qualifier from the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and one each from CONMEBOL, CAF and the AFC as well as two from CONCACAF will be drawn into an interconfederation play off for the final two places.
Fifty four UEFA members entered the European qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup with Russia suspended from participating in UEFA and FIFA competitions due to their country's invasion of Ukraine.
The teams were drawn into twelve groups, six groups of four teams and six groups of five teams. The group winners wwill qualify automatically.
The twelve group runners-up and four best Nations League group winners, based on the Nations League overall ranking, that finished outside the top two of their qualifying group will be drawn into four paths, playing two rounds of single-match play-offs. The four path winners will qualify for the World Cup.
Wales were placed in Pot 2 as second seeds and were drawn into Group J alongside Belgium, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan and Liechtenstein. This will be Wales' first meeting with Kazakhstan.
Wales were placed in Pot 2 as second seeds and were drawn into Group J alongside Belgium, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan and Liechtenstein. The opening match of the campaign saw Kazakhstan visit the Cardiff Cuty stadium for the first meeting between both countries.
The game started in explosive fashion as Daniel James put the home side ahead after just nine minutes.
Uefa qualifying Group J
| no. | date | score | scorers (wales) | venue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22/03/2025 | Liechtenstein 0-3 North Macedonia | Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz | WCQ | ||
| 718 | 22/03/2025 | Wales 3-1 Kazakhstan | James, Davies, Matondo | Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff | WCQ |
| 25/03/2025 | Liechtenstein 0-2 Kazakhstan | Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz | WCQ | ||
| 719 | 25/03/2025 | North Macedonia 1-1 Wales | Brooks | National Arena Todor Proeski, Skopje | WCQ |
| 06/06/2025 | North Macedonia 1-1 Belgium | National Arena Todor Proeski, Skopje | WCQ | ||
| 720 | 06/06/2025 | Wales 3-0 Liechtenstein | Rodon, Wilson, Moore | Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff | WCQ |
| 721 | 09/06/2025 | Belgium 4-3 Wales | Wilson (pen), Thomas, Johnson | Stade Roi Baudouin, Brussels | WCQ |
| 09/06/2025 | Kazakhstan 0-1 North Macedonia | Astana Arena, Astana | WCQ | ||
| 722 | 04/09/2025 | Kazakhstan 0-1 Wales | Moore | Astana Arena, Astana | WCQ |
| 04/09/2025 | Liechtenstein 0-6 Belgium | Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz | WCQ | ||
| 07/09/2025 | Belgium 5-0 Kazakhstan | Stade Roi Baudouin, Brussels | WCQ | ||
| 07/09/2025 | North Macedonia 6-0 Liechtenstein | National Arena Todor Proeski, Skopje | WCQ | ||
| 10/10/2025 | Belgium v North Macedonia | Stade Roi Baudouin, Brussels | WCQ | ||
| 10/10/2025 | Kazakhstan v Liechtenstein | TBC | WCQ | ||
| 13/10/2025 | North Macedonia v Kazakhstan | National Arena Todor Proeski, Skopje | WCQ | ||
| 725 | 13/10/2025 | Wales v Belgium | Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff | WCQ | |
| 15/11/2025 | Kazakhstan v Belgium | TBC | WCQ | ||
| 726 | 15/11/2025 | Liechtenstein v Wales | Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz | WCQ | |
| 18/11/2025 | Belgium v Liechtenstein | Stade Roi Baudouin, Brussels | WCQ | ||
| 727 | 18/11/2025 | Wales v North Macedonia | Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff | WCQ |
| BEL | KAZ | LIE | MKD | WAL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEL | 5-0 | 18/11 | 10/10 | 4-3 | |
| KAZ | 15/11 | 10/10 | 0-1 | 0-1 | |
| LIE | 0-6 | 0-2 | 0-3 | 15/11 | |
| MKD | 1-1 | 13/10 | 6-0 | 1-1 | |
| WAL | 13/10 | 3-1 | 3-0 | 18/11 |
Group standings
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | North Macedonia | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 11 |
| 2. | Belgium | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 4 | 10 |
| 3. | Wales | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 10 |
| 4. | Kazakhstan | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 10 |
| 5. | Liechtenstein | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
Players used during qualifying
Wales have used 24 players during the qualifying campaign with Ben Davies and Karl Darlow playing every single minute of the campaign so far. Dylan Lawlor made his debut during the match in Kazakhstan whilst Joe Allen won his last cap for Wales as a late substitute during the match in Skopje.
| Player | KAZ | MKD | LIE | BEL | KAZ | BEL | LIE | MKD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Allen | 6 | |||||||
| Ethan Ampadu | 64 | 90 | ||||||
| Nathan Broadhead | 75 | |||||||
| David Brooks | 72 | 15 | 26 | 63 | 13 | |||
| Ben Cabango | 4 | |||||||
| Liam Cullen | 90 | 90 | 77 | |||||
| Ben Davies | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | |||
| Karl Darlow | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | |||
| Jay Dasilva | 66 | |||||||
| Mark Harris | 28 | 27 | 25 | |||||
| Daniel James | 86 | 63 | 25 | |||||
| Jordan James | 28 | 90 | 17 | 90 | 13 | |||
| Brennan Johnson | 72 | 84 | 64 | 90 | 65 | |||
| Lewis Koumas | 26 | |||||||
| Dylan Lawlor | 90 | |||||||
| Rabbi Matondo | 4 | 6 | 1 | |||||
| Chris Mepham | 90 | 90 | 86 | |||||
| Kieffer Moore | 27 | 90 | 65 | |||||
| Connor Roberts | 90 | 90 | 90 | |||||
| Joe Rodon | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 | ||||
| Josh Sheehan | 90 | 84 | 26 | 90 | ||||
| Sorba Thomas | 90 | 90 | 64 | 89 | 77 | |||
| Neco Williams | 90 | 90 | 24 | 90 | ||||
| Harry Wilson | 73 | 90 | 90 |
