The September 2025 international window is upon us and it’s time to start thinking about who will book their places this fall for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Currently, 10 teams have qualified alongside co-hosts Canada, Mexico, and the United States. We now see who will fill out the rest of the 48 spots in next summer’s tournament.
We check in on Oceania, Africa, and Asia to see where they are in the qualifying process. Oceania and Asia already have teams that have qualified for the 2026 World Cup, while Africa could see its first teams clinch during the September window. We start with Oceania’s World Cup qualifying:
Oceania completed its World Cup qualifying last year, with New Zealand winning their qualification tournament to become the second team outside of co-hosts Canada, Mexico, and the United States to book their spot in the World Cup. They beat New Caledonia in the Oceania Third Round final to clinch a spot in the field of 48. New Caledonia, as runners-up, will compete in the inter-confederation playoffs in March.
Japan was the first team in the world to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, and they have been joined by Iran, Uzbekistan (debut), South Korea, Jordan (debut), and Australia. Two more teams from the Asian Football Confederation will book their place directly in the World Cup, while one team will compete in the inter-confederation playoff.
The Fourth Round of qualifying sees the remaining teams being split into two groups:
Group A – Qatar (Host), UAE, Oman
Group B – Saudi Arabia (Host), Iraq, Indonesia
Matches will take place in October, with Qatar hosting the Group A matches and Saudi Arabia hosting Group B. Each team will play the others once, with the group winners clinching a direct place in the World Cup. The group runner-up will move to the Fifth Round of qualifying, which is a two-legged, home-and-home series in November to decide who get the inter-confederation spot.
In Group A, the teams are pretty evenly matched. The October 14th match between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates could decide the group if they each can beat Oman. For Group B, the big match will be Saudi Arabia against Iraq on October 14th. The winner of that match will likely win the group assuming both put up wins against an Indonesia team that will likely be outmatched.
No one from the Confederation of African Football has yet directly qualified for the 2026 World Cup, but we could start to see some movement during the September window. With four matches left, there are a few teams that are in position to qualify during this window. The nine group winners will qualify for the 2026 World Cup, while the top four group runners-up will advance to the 4-team bracket to determine the inter-confederation playoff spot.
The key matches left all come on September 9th and come against teams that are separated by just a point in their group standings. DR Congo hosts Senegal, Cape Verde welcomes Cameroon, and Gabon will take on Ivory Coast in matches that day, with the winners gaining the edge in their respective groups and allows them to control their own destiny in directly qualifying for the World Cup.
Teams with best chance to qualify in September
Morocco could clinch their spot this week with two wins and Tanzania dropping points, while Egypt could clinch their group with a win at Burkina Faso. Other teams may need to wait until October to clinch if they can’t get maximum points and the teams behind them drop points.
Nigeria is currently in 4th place in Group C and they face the top 2 teams in the group in September: at home against Rwanda on September 6th and away to South Africa on September 9th. They need to gain some points to get back into the mix to win the group, but if they drop points, they are at risk of not even qualifying for the CAF playoff.
