world cup 2022

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.


Host selection

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.


Qualifying

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 and the 2026 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.


Uefa qualifying Group J

no.datescorescorers (wales)venue 
 22/03/2025Liechtenstein v North Macedonia Rheinpark Stadion, VaduzWCQ
71822/03/2025Wales v Kazakhstan Cardiff City Stadium, CardiffWCQ
 25/03/2025Liechtenstein v Kazakhstan Rheinpark Stadion, VaduzWCQ
71925/03/2025North Macedonia v Wales TBCWCQ
 06/06/2025North Macedonia v Belgium TBCWCQ
72006/06/2025Wales v Liechtenstein Cardiff City Stadium, CardiffWCQ
72109/06/2025Belgium v Wales TBCWCQ
 09/06/2025Kazakhstan v North Macedonia TBCWCQ
72204/09/2025Kazakhstan v Wales TBCWCQ
 04/09/2025Liechtenstein v Belgium Rheinpark Stadion, VaduzWCQ
 07/09/2025Belgium v Kazakhstan TBCWCQ
 07/09/2025North Macedonia v Liechtenstein TBCWCQ
 10/10/2025Belgium v North Macedonia TBCWCQ
 10/10/2025Kazakhstan v Liechtenstein TBCWCQ
 13/10/2025North Macedonia v Kazakhstan TBCWCQ
72513/10/2025Wales v Belgium Cardiff City Stadium, CardiffWCQ
 15/11/2025Kazakhstan v Belgium TBCWCQ
72615/11/2025Liechtenstein v Wales Rheinpark Stadion, VaduzWCQ
 18/11/2025Belgium v Liechtenstein TBCWCQ
72718/11/2025Wales v North Macedonia Cardiff City Stadium, CardiffWCQ