FIFA World Cup qualification

For the ongoing qualifying tournament, see 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification.

The FIFA World Cup qualification is the process that a national association football team goes through to qualify for the FIFA World Cup finals. The FIFA World Cup is the largest international team sport competition in the world with a qualification process required to reduce the large field of countries from 211 to just 32 for the World Cup finals.

Qualifying tournaments are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, Europe), and are organized by their respective confederations. For each tournament, FIFA decides beforehand the number of places in the finals allocated to each of the continental zones, based on the numbers or relative strength of the confederations' teams.

The hosts of the World Cup receive an automatic berth. Unlike many other sports, results of the previous World Cups or of the continental championships are not taken into account. Until 2002, the defending champions also received an automatic berth, but starting from the 2006 World Cup this is no longer the case.

The current qualification process is the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification which commenced in 2019 and finishes in 2022.

History

Over many years, the World Cup's qualification has evolved, from having no qualification at all in 1930, when the tournament was invitational and only 13 teams entered, to the current two-year process. The first World Cup qualifying match was played on 11 June when Sweden defeated Estonia 6–2 in Stockholm. The first ever goal in a World Cup qualifying match was scored 7 minutes into the game: it was scored according to some sources by Swedish captain Knut Kroon, or according to other sources by Estonian goalkeeper Evald Tipner (own goal).

While the number of teams which qualified for the finals has increased steadily, from 16 between 1934 and 1978, to 24 between 1982 and 1994, and finally to 32 starting from 1998, the qualification format has been basically the same throughout the history of the World Cup. The teams have been grouped continentally, and they competed for a fixed number of places, with one or two places awarded to the winners of intercontinental play-offs.

Qualification spots by continent

The table below lists the numbers of spots allocated by FIFA for each continent in each tournament. If no places were allocated to a continent as per the case of Oceania prior to 1966 and Africa in 1938-1954 and 1966, this does not indicate an exclusion of those continents by FIFA, but rather that no country from those continents made an entry to the aforementioned Cups.

A large part of Africa was under European colonial rule for the majority of the 20th century. Consequently, only three African countries were affiliated to FIFA in 1954: Egypt (since 1923), Sudan (since 1948) and Ethiopia (since 1952). Egypt entered the 1934, 1938 and 1954 Cups, but not the 1930 or 1950 Cups, while Sudan and Ethiopia did not enter the Cup until 1958. Though an African country, Egypt entered in 1938 and 1954 in the European group, and therefore the table below gives no data about Africa for these two Cups.

Places in the intercontinental play-offs count as 0.5 spots, and numbers in bold represent the winners of the intercontinental play-offs. "+C" denotes an additional spot for defending champions (1938-2002), and "+H" denotes an additional spot for host nations (from 1938).

Places allocated for continents

Continental zone	1934 (16)	1938 (15)1	1950 (13)2	1954 (16)	1958 (16)	1962 (16)	1966 (16)	1970 (16)	1974 (16)	1978 (16)	1982 (24)	1986 (24)	1990 (24)	1994 (24)	1998 (32)	2002 (32)	2006 (32)7	2010 (32)	2014 (32)	2018 (32)	2022 (32)	2026 (48)
Europe	12	111 +C+H	72 +C	11 +H	9.53 +C+H	8+4 2×0.5	9 +H	8 +C	8.5 +H	8.5 +C	13 +H	12.5 +C	13 +H	12 +C	14 +H	13.5 +C	13 +H	13	13	13 +H	13	16
Africa	1		0		0.53	0.54	05	1	1	1	2	2	2	3	5	5	5	5 +H	5	5	5	9
Asia		1	12	1		0.54	15	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	3.5	2.5 +2H	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5 +H	8
Oceania	did not exist											0.5	0.5	0.256	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	1
North and Central America and Caribbean	1	1	2	1	1	0.5	1	1 +H	1	1	2	1 +H	2	1.256 +H	3	3	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.5	6 –3H
South America	2	1	4 +H	1 +C	3	3.5 +C+H	3 +C	3	2.5 +C	2.5 +H	3 +C	4	2.5 +C	3.56	4 +C	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.5 +H	4.5	4.5	6
Play-off tournament	did not exist																					2
Total	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	24	24	24	24	32	32	32	32	32	32	32	48

¹ In 1938, Austria withdrew after qualifying on being annexed by Germany and were not replaced, so only 15 teams, 12 of them European, played in the finals.

² In 1950, India, Scotland, and Turkey withdrew after qualifying and were not replaced, so only 13 teams, none of them Asian and 6 of them European, played in the finals.

³ Initially in 1958, Africa and Asia together were given 1 spot, while Europe was given 9 spots. However, after Israel won the African and Asian zone without playing any matches due to withdrawals of other teams, a special play-off was arranged between them and a European team (Wales). So in effect, Africa and Asia together were given 0.5 spots, while Europe was given 9.5 spots.

⁴ In 1962, Europe was given 8 automatic spots, plus 2 additional spots in the intercontinental play-offs, in effect giving them 9 spots. The two European teams played an African team and an Asian team respectively, and both European teams won. Therefore, 10 European teams played in the finals.

⁵ In 1966, Africa and Asia were given one place, contested between the winner of a four team Asian tournament and three group winners from the second round of African qualifiers. All 15 African teams subsequently withdrew to protest FIFA's failure to allocate a place to an African team, leaving North Korea to qualify.

⁶ In 1994, there were two rounds of intercontinental play-offs. First, an Oceanian team played a team from North and Central America and Caribbean, and the winner then played a South American team.

⁷ From the 2006 qualifiers on, the defending champion no longer has an automatic spot secured.

Qualification competition entrants over time

The number of teams entering the qualification process and the number of matches played have been steadily growing over time. Although Egypt, an African country, entered qualifying in 1938 and 1954, it was in the European group; thus, the number of teams for Africa is considered to be zero in these years.

Number of teams entering qualification (including automatic qualifiers)

Continental zone	1934 (16)	1938 (15)	1950 (13)	1954 (16)	1958 (16)	1962 (16)	1966 (16)	1970 (16)	1974 (16)	1978 (16)	1982 (24)	1986 (24)	1990 (24)	1994 (24)	1998 (32)	2002 (32)	2006 (32)	2010 (32)	2014 (32)	2018 (32)	2022 (32)	2026 (48)
Europe	21	26	19	29	27	30	33	31	33	32	34	33	33	39	50	51	52	53	53	54	55
Africa	3		0		11	6	21	13	24	26	29	29	26	40	38	51	51	53	52	54	54
Asia		2	4	3		5		7	18	22	21	27	26	29	36	42	39	43	43	46	46
Oceania1	0	0	0	0	0	0						4	5	7	10	10	12	11	11	11	11
North and Central America and Caribbean2	4	7	3	5	6	8	10	14	14	17	15	18	16	23	30	35	34	35	35	35	35
South America	4	2	8	6	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10
Total entrants	32	37	34	45	55	56	74	75	99	107	109	121	116	147	174	199	198	2054	204	210	2115
Teams played3	27	21	19	33	46	49	51	68	90	95	103	110	103	130	168	193	194	2004	203	208	12
Matches played	27	22	26	57	89	92	127	172	226	252	306	308	314	497	643	777	847	853	828	872	11
Goals scored	141	96	121	208	341	325	393	542	620	723	797	801	735	1446	1922	2452	2464	2344	2303	2454	32
Average goals per match	5.22	4.36	4.65	3.65	3.83	3.53	3.09	3.15	2.74	2.87	2.60	2.60	2.34	2.91	2.99	3.16	2.91	2.75	2.81	2.81	2.91

• ¹ Because the Oceania Football Confederation has used the World Cup Qualifiers as a phase of (or as the entire) OFC Nations Cup, there is the possibility that non-FIFA countries may play in matches that double as World Cup qualifiers. In the 2006 qualifiers, New Caledonia were included in the tournament although they were not FIFA members at the date of close of entries. They are, however, included in the 12 nations listed as they joined FIFA during the course of qualification, even though they had been technically eliminated from contention a few days earlier (a similar situation occurred in the entries for 2010, with Montenegro's entry accepted prior to their admission by FIFA). By contrast, Tuvalu competed in the 2007 South Pacific Games football tournament, which doubled as qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup. As they were not FIFA members at the time of the completion of the competition, they are not included in the 11 OFC entrants, although their results counted towards the qualification of other teams.
• ² From 1973 to 1989, the CONCACAF Championship and its qualifying tournament determined CONCACAF's entrant in the World Cup. The confederation's champion qualified outright.
• ³ "Teams played" is the total number of teams that played at least one qualifying match.
• ⁴ These numbers included Tuvalu (see note 1) and South Africa. Although South Africa qualified automatically for 2010 as hosts, they competed in the CAF qualifiers, becoming the second hosts to compete in World Cup qualifying and the first to do it since 1934. This is because the Confederation of African Football used its 2010 World Cup qualifiers as the qualifying phase for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, a tournament for which South Africa attempted to qualify.
• ⁵ This number includes Qatar. Although Qatar qualified automatically for 2022 as hosts, they compete in the AFC qualifiers, becoming the third hosts to do so. This is because the Asian Football Confederation used its 2022 World Cup qualifiers as the qualifying phase for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, a tournament for which Qatar are attempting to qualify.

First appearance in qualification by team

Only teams that played at least one match are considered for the purposes of first appearance. Teams that withdrew prior to the qualification, or that qualified to the World Cup by walkover due to other teams' withdrawals, are not considered.

WC	Debuting teams								Successor and renamed teams
	Europe	South America	North, Central America and Caribbean	Asia	Africa	Oceania	T	CT
1934	Austria Belgium Bulgaria Czechoslovakia Estonia France Germany Greece Hungary Irish Free State Italy Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Spain Sweden Switzerland Yugoslavia	none	Cuba Haiti Mexico United States	Palestine, British Mandate	Egypt	none	27	27
1938	Finland Latvia Norway	none	none	none	none	none	3	30
1950	England Ireland Scotland Turkey Wales	none	none	Syria	none	none	6	36	Ireland Israel
1954	Saar	Brazil Chile Paraguay	none	Japan South Korea	none	none	6	42	Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland West Germany
1958	Denmark East Germany Iceland Soviet Union	Argentina Bolivia Colombia Peru Uruguay	Canada Costa Rica Guatemala Territory of Curaçao	China Indonesia	Sudan	none	16	58
1962	Cyprus	Ecuador	Dutch Guyana Honduras	none	Ethiopia Ghana Morocco Nigeria Tunisia	none	9	67	Netherlands Antilles
1966	Albania	Venezuela	Jamaica Trinidad and Tobago	North Korea	none	Australia	6	73
1970	none	none	Bermuda El Salvador	none	Algeria Cameroon Libya Rhodesia Senegal Zambia	New Zealand	9	82
1974	Malta	none	Antigua and Barbuda Puerto Rico	Hong Kong Iran Iraq Kuwait Malaysia South Vietnam Thailand	Congo Dahomey Guinea Ivory Coast Kenya Lesotho Mauritius Sierra Leone Tanzania Togo Zaire	none	21	103
1978	none	none	Barbados Dominican Republic Guyana Panama	Bahrain Qatar Republic of China Saudi Arabia Singapore	Malawi Mauritania Niger Uganda Upper Volta	none	14	117	Suriname
1982	none	none	Grenada	Macau	Gambia Liberia Madagascar Mozambique Somalia	Fiji	8	125	Chinese Taipei Zimbabwe
1986	none	none	none	Bangladesh Brunei Jordan India Nepal North Yemen South Yemen United Arab Emirates	Angola	none	9	134	Benin
1990	none	none	none	Oman Pakistan	Gabon	none	3	137	Burkina Faso
1994	Faroe Islands San Marino	none	Nicaragua Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Lebanon Sri Lanka	Botswana Burundi Namibia South Africa Swaziland	Solomon Islands Tahiti Vanuatu	15	152	Germany Representation of Czechs and Slovaks Russia Vietnam Yemen
1998	Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Georgia Liechtenstein Macedonia Moldova Slovakia Slovenia Ukraine	none	Aruba Belize Cayman Islands Dominica Saint Kitts and Nevis	Cambodia Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Maldives Philippines Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan	Guinea-Bissau Rwanda	Cook Islands Papua New Guinea Tonga Western Samoa	31	183	Czech Republic DR Congo FR Yugoslavia
2002	Andorra	none	Anguilla Bahamas British Virgin Islands Montserrat Turks and Caicos Islands U.S. Virgin Islands	Guam Laos Mongolia Palestine	Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Djibouti Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Mali São Tomé and Príncipe Seychelles	American Samoa	21	204	Samoa
2006	none	none	none	Afghanistan	none	New Caledonia	2	206	Serbia and Montenegro
2010	Montenegro	none	none	Myanmar East Timor	Comoros	Tuvalu	5	211	Serbia
2014	none	none	none	none	none	none	0	211	Curaçao
2018	Gibraltar Kosovo	none	none	Bhutan	South Sudan	none	4	215
2022	none	none	none	none	none	none	0	215	Eswatini North Macedonia

Successor and renamed teams

Teams' participations prior to their actual debuts in qualification

Other notes

National teams results in World Cup qualification (1934–2022)

Legend
Team has won the World Cup
Team has qualified for the main tournament through a qualifying process
Team has qualified for the main tournament only by walkover (Cuba, and Indonesia as Dutch East Indies)
Team has qualified for the main tournament by walkover but has not participated there because it withdrew (India)
Team has not qualified for the main tournament but is assured of an automatic spot in 2022 as host (Qatar)
Team has not qualified for the main tournament
Defunct team that qualified for the main tournament (East Germany)
Defunct team that never qualified for the main tournament (Saar and South Yemen)
Team is not a member of FIFA and is not eligible for the main tournament (Tuvalu)

Teams in bold are currently participating or are yet to start in the 2022 qualification. The table is updated to the matches played in November 2019.

No.	Team	App's	Overall qualification record							Points		Confederation
			Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Total	Avg
1	Mexico	16	175	113	37	25	436	126	+310	376	2.149	CONCACAF
2	Costa Rica	16	172	85	43	44	295	176	+119	298	1.733	CONCACAF
3	Australia	15	145	86	36	23	378	114	+264	294	2.028	AFC
4	South Korea	15	139	84	38	17	274	86	+188	290	2.086	AFC
5	Iran	11	132	80	34	18	284	84	+200	274	2.076	AFC
6	Netherlands	18	125	82	24	19	296	93	+203	270	2.160	UEFA
7	Spain	18	117	81	25	11	276	76	+200	268	2.291	UEFA
8	United States	18	154	77	36	41	266	181	+85	267	1.734	CONCACAF
9	Sweden	19	131	80	21	30	267	121	+146	261	1.992	UEFA
10	Portugal	20	139	76	33	30	262	139	+123	261	1.878	UEFA
11	Argentina	13	136	75	36	25	235	127	+108	261	1.919	CONMEBOL
12	Serbia (2010—) Serbia and Montenegro (2006) FR Yugoslavia (1998–2002) SFR Yugoslavia (1950–1990) Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1934–1938)	19	128	75	31	22	269	114	+155	256	2.000	UEFA
13	Belgium	19	133	77	25	31	277	141	+136	256	1.925	UEFA
14	Czech Republic (1998—) Representation of Czechs and Slovaks (1994) Czechoslovakia (1934–1994)	19	138	75	29	34	266	116	+150	254	1.841	UEFA
15	England	16	112	76	25	11	275	67	+208	253	2.259	UEFA
16	Uruguay	16	154	69	42	43	218	164	+54	249	1.617	CONMEBOL
17	Italy	16	109	74	26	9	221	69	+152	248	2.275	UEFA
18	Honduras	14	150	69	40	41	255	173	+82	247	1.647	CONCACAF
19	Japan	15	124	72	26	26	260	85	+175	242	1.952	AFC
20	Russia (1994—) Soviet Union (1958–1990)	15	115	73	23	19	227	75	+152	242	2.104	UEFA
21	Germany (1994—) West Germany (1954–1990) Germany (1934–1938)	14	94	74	18	2	292	70	+222	240	2.553	UEFA
22	Saudi Arabia	12	122	70	30	22	240	97	+143	240	1.967	AFC
23	Brazil	12	110	68	30	12	240	70	+170	234	2.127	CONMEBOL
24	Paraguay	17	154	66	30	58	201	189	+12	228	1.481	CONMEBOL
25	Romania	17	128	67	26	35	223	134	+89	227	1.773	UEFA
26	Switzerland	19	132	64	33	35	205	146	+59	225	1.705	UEFA
27	China	12	112	68	17	27	243	76	+167	221	1.973	AFC
28	France	17	111	65	23	23	216	88	+128	218	1.964	UEFA
29	El Salvador	13	140	63	28	49	233	168	+65	217	1.550	CONCACAF
30	Colombia	16	152	57	46	49	180	159	+21	217	1.428	CONMEBOL
31	Scotland	18	125	62	28	35	192	136	+56	214	1.712	UEFA
32	Chile	15	146	61	29	56	217	195	+22	212	1.452	CONMEBOL
33	Republic of Ireland (1954—) Ireland (1950) Irish Free State (1934–1938)	20	141	56	43	42	199	169	+30	211	1.496	UEFA
34	Bulgaria	19	129	60	27	42	209	177	+32	207	1.605	UEFA
35	Austria	18	123	59	28	36	212	136	+76	205	1.667	UEFA
36	Denmark	15	122	58	30	34	212	141	+71	204	1.672	UEFA
37	Nigeria	14	104	58	29	17	175	80	+95	203	1.952	CAF
38	Poland	18	117	60	21	36	228	143	+85	201	1.718	UEFA
39	Hungary	18	122	58	26	38	216	163	+53	200	1.639	UEFA
40	Tunisia	14	104	57	28	19	180	84	+96	199	1.913	CAF
41	Trinidad and Tobago	14	137	55	27	55	201	183	+18	192	1.401	CONCACAF
42	Morocco	14	111	51	38	22	150	80	+70	191	1.721	CAF
43	Greece	19	128	54	29	45	159	171	−12	191	1.492	UEFA
44	Qatar	12	117	54	23	40	192	122	+70	185	1.581	AFC
45	Iraq	12	106	51	26	29	210	105	+105	179	1.689	AFC
46	Guatemala	15	122	49	31	42	194	150	+44	178	1.459	CONCACAF
47	Canada	14	117	48	34	35	161	136	+25	178	1.521	CONCACAF
48	New Zealand	13	96	53	18	25	221	99	+122	177	1.844	OFC
49	Uzbekistan	7	99	52	19	28	189	101	+88	175	1.768	AFC
50	Cameroon	13	87	51	22	14	144	66	+78	175	2.011	CAF
51	Egypt	14	93	52	19	22	165	89	+76	175	1.882	CAF
52	Ecuador	15	143	47	33	63	169	202	−33	174	1.217	CONMEBOL
53	Kuwait	13	98	51	15	32	177	95	+82	168	1.714	AFC
54	Peru	16	149	43	37	69	164	211	−47	166	1.114	CONMEBOL
55	Turkey	17	128	47	24	57	176	187	−11	165	1.289	UEFA
56	Northern Ireland (1954—) Ireland (1950)	18	134	43	36	55	149	161	−12	165	1.231	UEFA
57	Norway	18	126	44	30	52	170	178	−8	162	1.286	UEFA
58	Zambia	13	96	45	20	31	145	88	+57	155	1.615	CAF
59	Israel (1950—) Palestine, British Mandate (1934–1938)	20	122	40	34	48	166	178	−12	154	1.262	UEFA
60	United Arab Emirates	10	101	44	20	37	171	115	+56	152	1.505	AFC
61	Ivory Coast	11	78	41	25	12	144	67	+77	148	1.897	CAF
62	Bolivia	16	150	39	29	82	177	284	−107	146	0.973	CONMEBOL
63	North Korea	11	88	41	21	26	120	80	+40	144	1.636	AFC
64	Syria	15	89	41	20	28	188	101	+87	143	1.607	AFC
65	Algeria	13	89	40	23	26	126	91	+35	143	1.607	CAF
66	Ghana	13	83	40	22	21	132	66	+66	142	1.711	CAF
67	Jamaica	11	104	37	27	40	115	132	−17	138	1.327	CONCACAF
68	Wales	18	120	37	26	57	151	170	−19	137	1.142	UEFA
69	Haiti	14	90	39	17	34	152	120	+32	134	1.489	CONCACAF
70	Ukraine	6	70	35	22	13	108	52	+56	127	1.814	UEFA
71	Bahrain	11	93	33	28	32	108	95	+13	127	1.366	AFC
72	Croatia	6	62	36	18	8	108	47	+61	126	2.032	UEFA
73	DR Congo (1998—) Zaire (1974–1998)	10	76	36	17	23	128	84	+44	125	1.645	CAF
74	Finland	19	129	32	23	74	134	287	−153	119	0.922	UEFA
75	Oman	9	75	33	19	23	126	74	+52	118	1.573	AFC
76	Guinea	12	75	35	10	30	114	97	+17	115	1.533	CAF
77	Slovakia	6	64	32	14	18	110	64	+46	110	1.719	UEFA
78	Jordan	10	75	31	15	29	115	94	+21	108	1.440	AFC
79	Panama	11	94	27	22	45	104	157	−53	103	1.096	CONCACAF
80	Iceland	13	106	28	19	59	116	215	−99	103	0.972	UEFA
81	Senegal	12	63	26	22	15	90	56	+34	100	1.587	CAF
82	Angola	10	63	26	22	15	82	58	+24	100	1.587	CAF
83	Venezuela	13	140	25	25	90	120	314	−194	100	0.714	CONMEBOL
84	Thailand	13	94	26	20	48	122	159	−37	98	1.043	AFC
85	Bosnia and Herzegovina	6	58	28	10	20	112	69	+43	94	1.621	UEFA
86	South Africa	7	50	28	8	14	66	45	+21	92	1.840	CAF
87	Slovenia	6	62	25	15	22	81	68	+13	90	1.452	UEFA
88	Burkina Faso (1990—) Upper Volta (1978)	8	60	26	10	24	87	78	+9	88	1.467	CAF
89	Hong Kong	13	78	24	16	38	94	133	−39	88	1.128	AFC
90	Kenya	12	68	23	16	29	77	91	−14	85	1.250	CAF
91	Zimbabwe (1982—) Rhodesia (1970)	11	63	22	16	25	65	77	−12	82	1.302	CAF
92	Togo	11	65	22	15	28	71	87	−16	81	1.246	CAF
93	Cuba	12	68	20	20	28	85	102	−17	80	1.176	CONCACAF
94	Lebanon	8	61	21	16	24	92	80	+12	79	1.295	AFC
95	Malaysia	13	66	22	13	31	93	118	−25	79	1.197	AFC
96	Libya	10	56	21	13	22	63	62	+1	76	1.357	CAF
97	Congo	9	62	21	13	28	70	83	−13	76	1.226	CAF
98	East Germany	9	47	22	8	17	87	65	+22	74	1.574	defunct
99	Gabon	8	57	21	11	25	57	65	−8	74	1.298	CAF
100	Singapore	12	73	21	11	41	81	131	−50	74	1.014	AFC
101	Indonesia (1958—) Dutch East Indies (1938)	13	76	19	16	41	90	159	−69	73	0.961	AFC
102	Solomon Islands	7	54	21	9	24	112	113	−1	72	1.333	OFC
103	Latvia	8	75	19	15	41	82	130	−48	72	0.960	UEFA
104	Suriname (1978—) Dutch Guyana (1962–1974)	14	65	19	14	32	91	111	−20	71	1.092	CONCACAF
105	Fiji	9	53	20	10	23	111	98	+13	70	1.321	OFC
106	Albania	12	104	18	14	72	72	188	−116	68	0.654	UEFA
107	Lithuania	9	73	17	16	40	59	111	−52	67	0.918	UEFA
108	Sudan	13	66	16	18	32	59	102	−43	66	1.000	CAF
109	Turkmenistan	7	45	20	5	20	72	64	+8	65	1.444	AFC
110	New Caledonia	4	35	18	8	9	87	36	+51	62	1.771	OFC
111	Malawi	11	60	15	17	28	57	83	−26	62	1.033	CAF
112	Liberia	10	60	16	12	32	42	86	−44	60	1.000	CAF
113	Tahiti	7	43	17	8	18	66	81	−15	59	1.372	OFC
114	Estonia	9	76	16	11	49	65	166	−101	59	0.776	UEFA
115	Cyprus	15	114	15	13	86	87	299	−212	58	0.509	UEFA
116	Curaçao (2014—) Netherlands Antilles (1962–2010) Territory of Curaçao (1958)	16	60	13	18	29	53	116	−63	57	0.950	CONCACAF
117	Bermuda	7	36	15	9	12	76	46	+30	54	1.500	CONCACAF
118	Uganda	9	42	15	9	18	41	57	−16	54	1.286	CAF
119	North Macedonia (2022—) Macedonia (1998–2018)	6	60	14	12	34	71	102	−31	54	0.900	UEFA
120	Tajikistan	7	41	15	8	18	69	63	+6	53	1.293	AFC
121	Mali	5	40	14	11	15	50	52	−2	53	1.325	CAF
122	Yemen (1994—) North Yemen (1986–1990)	10	55	13	13	29	58	91	−33	52	0.945	AFC
123	Belarus	6	58	13	12	33	61	97	−36	51	0.879	UEFA
124	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	7	58	14	8	36	77	170	−93	50	0.862	CONCACAF
125	Kyrgyzstan	7	36	14	5	17	48	54	−6	47	1.306	AFC
126	Vietnam (1994—) South Vietnam (1974)	9	46	14	5	27	48	82	−34	47	1.022	AFC
127	Kazakhstan	6	60	12	11	37	71	128	−57	47	0.783	UEFA
128	Benin (1986—) Dahomey (1974)	8	44	13	7	24	46	89	−43	46	1.045	CAF
129	Sierra Leone	11	47	12	9	26	41	72	−31	45	0.957	CAF
130	Madagascar	9	36	12	8	16	45	51	−6	44	1.222	CAF
131	Antigua and Barbuda	10	42	13	5	24	66	93	−27	44	1.048	CONCACAF
132	India	9	48	10	14	24	46	92	−46	44	0.917	AFC
133	Armenia	6	62	10	14	38	52	122	−70	44	0.710	UEFA
134	Georgia	6	56	9	16	31	51	89	−38	43	0.768	UEFA
135	Cape Verde	5	34	13	3	18	34	46	−12	42	1.235	CAF
136	Ethiopia	12	43	10	12	21	48	66	−18	42	0.977	CAF
137	Namibia	8	44	11	9	24	41	83	−42	42	0.955	CAF
138	Saint Kitts and Nevis	6	30	11	8	11	64	54	+10	41	1.367	CONCACAF
139	Montenegro	3	30	10	10	10	47	43	+4	40	1.333	UEFA
140	Vanuatu	7	37	12	3	22	76	89	−13	39	1.054	OFC
141	Mozambique	9	36	10	8	18	33	50	−17	38	1.056	CAF
142	Palestine	6	31	10	7	14	51	41	+10	37	1.194	AFC
143	Bangladesh	10	54	10	7	37	36	130	−94	37	0.685	AFC
144	Botswana	7	36	10	6	20	33	53	−20	36	1.000	CAF
145	Dominican Republic	8	29	10	5	14	42	50	−8	35	1.207	CONCACAF
146	Azerbaijan	6	58	7	14	37	29	104	−75	35	0.603	UEFA
147	Barbados	8	37	10	4	23	35	73	−38	34	0.919	CONCACAF
148	Rwanda	7	38	8	9	21	39	54	−15	33	0.868	CAF
149	Tanzania	10	35	7	12	16	37	52	−15	33	0.943	CAF
150	Niger	7	30	9	5	16	27	48	−21	32	1.067	CAF
151	Maldives	7	37	9	2	26	42	130	−88	29	0.784	AFC
152	Samoa (2002—) Western Samoa (1998)	6	26	9	1	16	37	88	−51	28	1.077	OFC
153	Faroe Islands	7	70	7	7	56	34	184	−150	28	0.400	UEFA
154	Papua New Guinea	4	22	7	6	9	43	36	+7	27	1.227	OFC
155	Belize	6	26	7	6	13	32	54	−22	27	1.038	CONCACAF
156	Guyana	10	34	7	6	21	36	81	−45	27	0.794	CONCACAF
157	Moldova	6	58	5	12	41	35	115	−80	27	0.466	UEFA
158	Burundi	7	22	7	5	10	19	28	−9	26	1.182	CAF
159	Luxembourg	20	134	5	10	119	69	433	−364	25	0.187	UEFA
160	Grenada	7	25	7	3	15	49	54	−5	24	0.960	CONCACAF
161	Gambia	9	26	6	6	14	21	39	−18	24	0.923	CAF
162	Nicaragua	7	22	7	1	14	25	44	−19	22	1.000	CONCACAF
163	Saint Lucia	7	24	7	1	16	32	62	−30	22	0.917	CONCACAF
164	Philippines	5	26	6	4	16	24	65	−41	22	0.846	AFC
165	Tonga	6	22	7	1	14	23	82	−59	22	1.000	OFC
166	Chinese Taipei (1982—) Republic of China (1978)	12	63	6	4	53	37	225	−188	22	0.349	AFC
167	Puerto Rico	9	25	5	6	14	22	55	−33	21	0.840	CONCACAF
168	Chad	6	18	6	2	10	16	26	−10	20	1.111	CAF
169	Nepal	8	35	5	4	26	25	116	−91	19	0.543	AFC
170	Equatorial Guinea	6	22	5	3	14	19	37	−18	18	0.818	CAF
171	Sri Lanka	8	38	4	6	28	24	92	−68	18	0.474	AFC
172	Eswatini (2022—) Swaziland (1994–2018)	8	21	4	5	12	16	41	−25	17	0.810	CAF
173	Myanmar	4	19	5	2	12	16	51	−35	17	0.895	AFC
174	Lesotho	8	26	2	10	14	15	52	−37	16	0.615	CAF
175	Mongolia	6	21	5	1	15	16	58	−42	16	0.762	AFC
176	Cambodia	6	33	4	4	25	21	113	−92	16	0.485	AFC
177	Malta	12	102	2	10	90	33	300	−267	16	0.157	UEFA
178	Bahamas	5	14	4	3	7	20	43	−23	15	1.071	CONCACAF
179	Afghanistan	5	19	4	2	13	12	56	−44	14	0.737	AFC
180	Macau	10	37	4	2	31	16	168	−152	14	0.378	AFC
181	Guinea-Bissau	7	14	3	4	7	11	20	−9	13	0.929	CAF
182	Aruba	6	16	4	1	11	23	42	−19	13	0.812	CONCACAF
183	Dominica	6	20	3	4	13	15	54	−39	13	0.650	CONCACAF
184	Laos	5	28	3	4	21	23	125	−102	13	0.464	AFC
185	Liechtenstein	6	60	2	6	52	23	185	−162	12	0.200	UEFA
186	Cook Islands	6	20	3	1	16	16	63	−47	10	0.500	OFC
187	Guam	3	17	3	1	13	10	71	−61	10	0.588	AFC
188	American Samoa	5	18	3	1	14	11	136	−125	10	0.556	OFC
189	Mauritania	6	16	2	3	11	13	31	−18	9	0.562	CAF
190	Bhutan	2	12	3	0	9	9	58	−49	9	0.750	AFC
191	U.S. Virgin Islands	5	15	3	0	12	8	80	−72	9	0.600	CONCACAF
192	Andorra	5	52	2	3	47	14	162	−148	9	0.173	UEFA
193	Djibouti	5	15	2	2	11	8	57	−49	8	0.533	CAF
194	São Tomé and Príncipe	5	10	2	1	7	5	25	−20	7	0.700	CAF
195	Somalia	7	13	1	3	9	3	29	−26	6	0.462	CAF
196	Mauritius	8	20	1	3	16	14	52	−38	6	0.300	CAF
197	Brunei	4	16	2	0	14	5	62	−57	6	0.375	AFC
198	Cayman Islands	6	16	0	5	11	6	35	−29	5	0.313	CONCACAF
199	Saar	1	4	1	1	2	4	8	−4	4	1.000	defunct
200	Central African Republic	3	10	1	1	8	8	21	−13	4	0.400	CAF
201	Comoros	4	10	0	4	6	5	21	−16	4	0.400	CAF
202	Pakistan	9	32	0	4	28	13	122	−109	4	0.125	AFC
203	Eritrea	5	10	0	3	7	4	20	−16	3	0.300	CAF
204	British Virgin Islands	5	10	0	3	7	7	34	−27	3	0.300	CONCACAF
205	Turks and Caicos Islands	5	10	1	0	9	6	46	−40	3	0.300	CONCACAF
206	South Sudan	2	4	0	2	2	2	7	−5	2	0.500	CAF
207	Seychelles	6	16	0	2	14	6	46	−40	2	0.125	CAF
208	San Marino	7	66	0	2	64	11	310	−299	2	0.030	UEFA
209	South Yemen	1	2	0	1	1	4	7	−3	1	0.500	defunct
210	Tuvalu	1	4	0	1	3	2	22	−20	1	0.250	OFC
211	Kosovo	1	10	0	1	9	3	24	−21	1	0.100	UEFA
212	Montserrat	5	9	0	1	8	8	45	−37	1	0.111	CONCACAF
213	Anguilla	5	10	0	1	9	2	41	−39	1	0.100	CONCACAF
214	Gibraltar	1	10	0	0	10	3	47	−44	0	0.000	UEFA
215	East Timor	4	16	0	0	16	6	80	−74	0	0.000	AFC

Footnotes

Top scorers in preliminary competition (1934–2022)

Players in bold are still active at international level.

#	Nation	Player	Goals	Games played	Goal ratio	Qualification tournaments
1		Carlos Ruiz	39	47	0.75	2002 (8 goals), 2006 (10), 2010 (6), 2014 (6), 2018 (9)
2		Ali Daei	35	50	0.70	1994 (7 goals), 1998 (9), 2002 (10), 2006 (9)
3		Cristiano Ronaldo	30	38	0.79	2006 (7 goals), 2014 (8), 2018 (15)
4		Karim Bagheri	28	29	0.97	1998 (19 goals), 2002 (8), 2010 (1)
5		Kazuyoshi Miura	27	25	1.08	1994 (13 goals), 1998 (14)
6		Andriy Shevchenko	26	40	0.65	1998 (4 goals), 2002 (10), 2006 (6), 2010 (6)
7		Tim Cahill	25	36	0.69	2006 (7 goals), 2010 (4), 2014 (3), 2018 (11)
8		Carlos Pavón	25	37	0.68	1998 (2 goals), 2002 (15), 2006 (1), 2010 (7)
9		Edin Džeko	24	31	0.77	2010 (9 goals), 2014 (10), 2018 (5)
10		Jared Borgetti	23	24	0.96	2002 (6 goals), 2006 (14), 2010 (3)
11		Robert Lewandowski	21	28	0.75	2010 (2 goals), 2014 (3), 2018 (16)
12		Paulo Wanchope	21	37	0.57	1998 (6 goals), 2002 (7), 2006 (8)
13		Lionel Messi	21	45	0.47	2010 (4 goals), 2014 (10), 2018 (7)
14		Luis Suárez	21	48	0.44	2010 (5 goals), 2014 (11), 2018 (5)
15		Archie Thompson	20	15	1.33	2002 (16 goals), 2006 (2), 2014 (2)
16		Stern John	20	49	0.41	1998 (3 goals), 2002 (3), 2006 (12), 2010 (2)
17		Vaughan Coveny	19	19	1.00	1998 (4 goals), 2002 (9), 2006 (6)
18		Emmanuel Sanon	19	20	0.95	1974 (11 goals), 1978 (8)
19		Pauleta	19	24	0.79	2002 (8 goals), 2006 (11)
20		Zlatan Ibrahimović	19	29	0.66	2002 (1 goal), 2006 (8), 2010 (2), 2014 (8)
21		Hernán Crespo	19	33	0.58	1998 (3 goals), 2002 (9), 2006 (7)
22		Didier Drogba	18	19	0.95	2006 (9 goals), 2010 (6), 2014 (3)
23		Moumouni Dagano	18	24	0.75	2002 (1 goal), 2006 (5), 2010 (12)
24		Samuel Eto'o	18	29	0.62	2002 (3 goals), 2006 (4), 2010 (9), 2014 (2)
25		Raúl Díaz Arce	18	29	0.62	1994 (2 goals), 1998 (9), 2002 (7)
26		Marcelo Salas	18	32	0.56	1998 (11 goals), 2002 (4), 2006 (1), 2010 (2)
27		Robbie Keane	18	37	0.49	2002 (2 goals), 2006 (4), 2010 (6), 2014 (6)
28		Clint Dempsey	18	43	0.42	2010 (5 goals), 2014 (8), 2018 (5)
29		Iván Zamorano	17	11	1.54	1990 (1 goal), 1998 (12), 2002 (4)
30		Deon McCaulay	17	16	1.06	2010 (2 goals), 2014 (11), 2018 (4)
31		Mohammad Al-Sahlawi	17	17	1.00	2014 (1 goal), 2018 (16)
32		Yang Xu	17	19	0.89	2014 (4 goals), 2018 (8), 2022 (5)
33		Kubilay Türkyilmaz	17	19	0.89	1990 (5 goals), 1994 (1), 1998 (4), 2002 (7)
34		Dimitar Berbatov	17	24	0.71	2002 (5 goals), 2006 (7), 2010 (5)
35		Alexander Frei	17	25	0.68	2002 (5 goals), 2006 (7), 2010 (5)
36		Ahmed Khalil	17	31	0.54	2014 (1 goal), 2018 (16)
37		Álvaro Saborío	17	41	0.41	2006 (3 goals), 2010 (6), 2014 (8)

(updated as of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers)

Current format

Currently, 32 places are available in the final tournament until 2022. One of them is reserved for the host nation, but if two or more nations co-host the competition, each is awarded a place.

From 1934 to 2002, one berth was reserved for the winners of the previous World Cup, but in November 2001, FIFA announced that the defending champion would no longer get automatic entry to the subsequent tournament, starting with the 2006 finals. This decision was made to address the issue of the returning champions being at a disadvantage to their fellow competitors due to having not played a competitive match in the previous two years.

The problem was amply demonstrated at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, as returning champions France tumbled out in the first round, finishing bottom of their group without scoring a single goal. 2002 winner Brazil qualified for 2006 at the top of their qualifiers group, but Italy, defending champions from 2006, finished bottom of their group in 2010, despite playing in the qualifying matches. At Brazil 2014, 2010 champions Spain finished third in their group and failed to advance to the Round of 16, despite having qualified as first in their group.

FIFA decides beforehand the number of spots awarded to each of the continental zones. For the 2022 World Cup, the following numbers were used:

• UEFA (Europe) – 13 berths
• CAF (Africa) – 5 berths
• AFC (Asia) – 4 berths, plus the host Qatar
• CONMEBOL (South America) – 4 berths
• CONCACAF (North and Central America and Caribbean) – 3 berths
• 2 berths for the winners of intercontinental play-offs between the best team from the OFC (Oceania), as well as additional teams from the AFC, CONMEBOL and CONCACAF. The pairings for these play-offs will be determined by an open draw.

The number of berths allocated per continent is widely debated, with the main point of contention being the extent to which berths should be allocated to regions based on sheer population vs. talent. A historically weaker continent, Africa has called for more places, as they are allocated only five in comparison to Europe's 13.

In early October 2016, it was announced that the World Cup would have featured 40 teams starting with the 2026 tournament, then FIFA President Gianni Infantino stated his support for a 48-team World Cup, mainly to address African concerns. On 10 January 2017, the FIFA Council voted unanimously to expand the World Cup to a 48 team tournament that will open with a group stage consisting of 16 groups of three teams, with two teams progressing from each group to a knockout tournament starting with a round of 32. The new format for the qualifying process has yet to be confirmed, other than a play-off tournament that consists of one team from each confederation (except UEFA) and one additional team from the confederation of the host country for the last two World Cup berths.

These numbers vary slightly between tournaments (see above).

Qualification in all zones ends at approximately the same time, in September–November of the year preceding the finals. For 2022, qualification will end in March, eight months preceding the Qatar tournament.

The formats of the qualification tournaments differ between confederations and over time. The systems used in 2022 are outlined below.

Africa

The CAF qualification process reverted to the format used for the 2014 qualification. It began with one preliminary round to narrow the field of 28 entrants to 14 teams in September 2019.

The group stage consists of 10 groups of four, with the group winners advancing to the two-legged, home-and-away third round. The five winners advance to the World Cup finals.

Asia

Qualifying was altered significantly from the 2014 method, with changes to the structure of the preliminary rounds – which were held before the AFC's main draw. One home-and-away preliminary round reduced the 12 weakest entrants to six, which then joined the 34 strongest sides in eight groups of five, with the winners and 4 best runners-up advancing to the final group stage, comprising two 6-team groups. If Qatar is among the group winners or runners-up, only the seven other group winners will advance and the fifth-best group runners-up will enter instead. The winners and runners-up of the two final groups of six advance to the World Cup finals with the two third-placed sides playing off for the right to play in an inter-confederation play-off for a final World Cup spot. The first two rounds also act as the qualifiers for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.

A total of 24 teams eliminated from World Cup qualification in the second round compete in the third round of 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification (which is separate from the third round of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification), where they will be divided into six groups of four teams and compete for the remaining slots of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. The 24 teams consist of the 16 highest ranked teams eliminated in the second round, and the eight teams that advanced from the play-off round of 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification which are contested by the remaining 12 teams eliminated in the second round.

Europe

The European qualification was changed from the 2010 to 2018 systems. The 55 national teams will be divided into five groups of six teams and five groups of five, with the group winners qualifying directly to the finals.

The introduction of the new UEFA Nations League partly changed the qualifying format, although this has yet to be validated by FIFA. Two teams based on Nations League performance join the group runners-up to make it 12 teams drawn into three paths, playing two rounds of single-match ties in each path (semi-finals and final, with the home teams to be drawn), for the remaining three places.

North and Central America and Caribbean

See also: Hexagonal (CONCACAF)

The 2022 CONCACAF qualification process changed significantly from the 2018 qualification cycle. There are two separate preliminary group stages, one for the six highest-ranked teams and another for the 29 lowest-ranked teams, to be based on the June 2020 FIFA rankings. The top-seeded round – still referred to as the "hexagonal" because there are six teams involved – will see the top three teams advance to the World Cup finals, while the fourth-placed side will enter a play-off against the winner of the lower-seeded knockout phase for a spot in the inter-continental play-offs.

The lower-seeded round will have the remaining 29 teams divided into five groups of four teams and three groups of three to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The winners of each group will advance to a knockout phase, each of the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final to be played in a two-legged home-and-away series. The winner of the knockout phase will advance to a play-off against the fourth-placed team of the top-seeded round for a spot in the inter-confederation play-offs.

Oceania

Qualification in Oceania has yet to be finalised, but the following could be like this: The first stage will take place with one group of the four lowest ranked teams and the winner advances to the second stage. In the second stage with two groups of four teams each, the top three advance to the third round. Two groups of three teams contest the third round, or final group stage, and the winners of each group enter a two-leg final. The winners of this final advance to an inter-confederation play-off for a World Cup spot.

South America

As in the previous qualification series CONMEBOL qualification consists of a single group of all entrants. Unlike qualifying tournaments where the fixtures were pre-determined as applied until the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup, the fixtures were determined by a draw held on 17 December 2019.

The top 4 teams from the 10-team group advance to the World Cup finals, while the fifth placed team enters an inter-confederation play-off for a World Cup spot.

Intercontinental play-offs

Like the previous 2018 tournament, the pairings for the two play-offs will be determined by an open draw on an unknown date. Intercontinental play-offs are played as home-and-away ties.

Qualification tournament rules

Qualification tournaments generally consist of a number of stages, made up of groups or knock-out ties.

Groups

In all group tournaments, three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss. FIFA has set the order of the tie-breakers for teams that finish level on points:

1. goal difference in all group matches
2. greater number of goals scored in all group matches

Where teams are still not able to be separated, the following tie-breakers are used:

1. greater number of points obtained in matches between the tied teams
2. goal difference in matches between the tied teams
3. greater number of goals scored in matches between the tied teams
4. goals scored away from home in matches between the tied teams, if the tie is only between two teams

Where teams are still equal, then a play-off on neutral ground, with extra time and penalties if necessary will be played if FIFA deems such a play-off able to be fitted within the coordinated international match calendar. If this is not deemed feasible, then the result will be determined by fair play points and then the drawing of lots.

Note that this order of tie-breaker application has not always been applied. While it was used in the 2010 qualifiers, the qualification for the 2006 World Cup used the head-to-head comparison prior to goal difference (although this system was – where applicable – used in the 2006 finals themselves). If these rules had applied in 2006, then Nigeria would have qualified rather than Angola.

Home-and-away ties

Most knock-out qualifiers (such as the inter-confederation play-offs and many preliminary ties) are played over two legs. The team that scores a greater aggregate number of goals qualifies. Away goals rule applies. If these rules fail to determine the winner, extra time and penalty shootouts are used.

Occasionally – usually when one entrant lacks adequate facilities to host international matches – ties are played over a single leg, in which case matches level after 90 minutes will go to extra time and then to a penalty shootout if required.

Alternatively, "home" matches can be played in neutral countries, or occasionally one team will host both matches. In the latter case the visiting team will still be considered as the "home" team for one of the legs – which may determine which side advances under the away goals rule, as occurred in CONCACAF qualification in 2010.

See also

• National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup
• UEFA European Championship qualifying
• AFC Asian Cup qualification
• FIFA Women's World Cup qualification

External links

• FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition Statistics (from FIFA.com)
• FIFA World Cup Preliminary History (from FIFA.com)
• FIFA World Cup 2022 Regulations