The last 6 spots in the World Cup are up for grabs

Jesse Campigotto · CBC Sports

· Posted: Mar 25, 2026 6:18 PM EDT | Last Updated: 18 minutes ago

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With less than 80 days til kickoff, it's time to determine the final entries for the World Cup this June and July in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

A total of 22 countries remain in the hunt for the six remaining spots in the expanded 48-team event. In Europe, 16 nations will battle for the continent's last four berths, while six teams from other parts of the world vie for the other two spots. These will all be decided in a bunch of mini single-elimination tournaments over the next six days, with matches taking place Thursday and Tuesday.

Though Canada is not involved, it still has a stake in these qualifying contests. One of them will determine who the Canadian team faces in its World Cup opener on June 12 in Toronto, and a total of three qualifiers will play a group-stage game in either Toronto or Vancouver.

So, let's take a look at both the European and intercontinental qualifying tournaments.

Europe

The 16 European hopefuls have been divided into four separate four-team brackets — or "paths," as they're called. In each path, the winners of the two matches on Thursday will square off for a World Cup berth on Tuesday.

Path A is the most interesting for a couple of reasons. It features four-time World Cup winner Italy, which is desperately trying to avoid becoming the first multi-time champion to miss the event three straight times. If the Italians win out, they'll face Canada on June 12 in Toronto, home of the largest community of Italian-Canadians in the country.

Italy is ranked 12th in the world and is favoured to win the path. But this same route led to disaster four years ago when, as the reigning European champions, the Azzurri suffered a shocking 1-0 loss to tiny North Macedonia. Now they're playing for their World Cup lives again after failing to win their first-round European qualifying group, where 32nd-ranked Norway beat them twice.

As you can imagine, tensions are running high in Italy. Earlier this week, feisty head coach Gennaro Gattuso (a standout midfielder on Italy's 2006 World Cup championship team) sent home talented winger Federico Chiesa (the co-leader in goals on the 2021 Euro-winning squad). Though Chiesa is dealing with some "minor" injuries, Gattuso suggested the move had more to do with the player's "frame of mind."

Italy hosts 69th-ranked Northern Ireland on Thursday in the small northern city of Bergamo, chosen by Gattuso because he didn't appreciate the atmosphere at Milan's massive San Siro stadium. During Italy's loss to Norway there in November, fans of rival AC Milan and Inter Milan would whistle (the European equivalent of booing) at players from the opposing club.

The winner of the Italy-Northern Ireland match will go on the road to face either No. 35 Wales or No. 71 Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday for a spot in Group B at the World Cup with No. 29 Canada, No. 18 Switzerland and No. 56 Qatar.

Captain Alphonso Davies is among the Canadian players who will miss a pair of upcoming friendlies due to injury. (Michael Owens/Getty Images)

Two of the other three European brackets feature a clear favourite.

In Path C it's 25th-ranked Turkey, which hosts No. 49 Romania on Thursday. The winner travels to either No. 44 Slovakia or No. 79 Kosovo on Tuesday. Whoever survives this path will slot into Group D with the 15th-ranked United States, No. 27 Australia and No. 40 Paraguay. Vancouver will host them on June 13 against Australia.

In Path D, 21st-ranked favourite Denmark hosts the giant killers themselves, No. 66 North Macedonia, with the winner hitting the road to face either No. 43 Czechia or No. 59 Ireland. This path leads to Group A, featuring 16th-ranked Mexico, No. 22 South Korea and No. 60 South Africa.

Path B, on the other hand, looks wide open. No. 34 Poland and No. 42 Sweden are technically the favourites, but their betting odds imply they each have only about a 1-in-3 chance of making it to the World Cup. And the highest-ranked team in the group, No. 30 Ukraine, has around a 1-in-4 shot, according to the markets. 

Ukraine is unable to host due to the war with Russia, so their match against the Swedes on Thursday will be played on neutral ground in Spain. Poland hosts No. 63 Albania, and the winners meet in either Spain or Sweden on Tuesday. The winner of this path goes into Group F with the seventh-ranked Netherlands, No. 19 Japan and No. 47 Tunisia.

Intercontinental

These playoffs work a bit differently from the European ones. The paths are still single-elimination, with matches taking place on Thursday and Tuesday, but in this case the six teams have been divided into smaller groups of three, with the top team in each path getting a first-round bye. Also, every match will be played on neutral ground in Mexico.

In Path 1, 48th-ranked Congo awaits the winner of Thursday's matchup between No. 70 Jamaica and No. 150 New Caledonia, a tiny French territory located quite a ways east of Australia in the Pacific Ocean. The winner of this path joins Group K with No. 6 Portugal, No. 13 Colombia and No. 52 Uzbekistan.

In Path 2, 58th-ranked Iraq meets the winner between No. 76 Bolivia and No. 22 Suriname. This path leads to Group I, featuring No. 3 France, No. 14 Senegal No. 32 Norway. Toronto will host the successful qualifier on June 26 against Senegal.

What Canada is up to

As they await their opponent for their World Cup opener, the 29th-ranked Canadian men will host a pair of friendlies during this international window. On Saturday afternoon they play No. 74 Iceland, which failed to qualify for the World Cup, and on Tuesday night they face a fellow World Cup team in No. 47 Tunisia.

Both matches will take place at Toronto's BMO Field, which has added 17,000 seats to bring its capacity to 45,000 for the World Cup. But Canada will be without three key defenders as Alphonso Davies deals with a strained hamstring after returning from a torn ACL, Alistair Johnston recovers from a hamstring surgery and Moise Bombito works back from a fractured tibia. Midfielder Stephen Eustaquio and forward Jacob Shaffelburg are also out due to injuries.

Here's more on the Canadian squad for the friendlies.