Who is not going to the 2026 World Cup?

A total of 145 teams have already been eliminated from qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.

Of the 48 teams who will play at next summer's tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada, 42 places have been decided, with the remaining six to be finalised in March's international break.

Four of those will come from Europe's play-off tournament, and the other two will be won via the intercontinental play-offs.

While some teams will make their World Cup debuts in 2026, such as Curacao, Uzbekistan and Cape Verde, much of next year's line-up is a collection of the biggest footballing nations from across the globe.

Despite that, some major footballing countries have missed out on a spot at next year's World Cup.

From Europe, Serbia, Greece and Hungary are among the biggest names that will not feature.

In terms of population, China and India are two of the largest countries on the planet, but neither will play at the tournament.

Nigeria have been at seven World Cups since the start of last tournament held in the United States in 1994, with fellow African nation and 1990 quarter-finalists Cameroon featuring at six. However, neither will play in 2026 after being knocked out of Africa's play-offs.

Trinidad and Tobago, who played in England's group at the 2006 World Cup, head up the list of countries from North America and the Caribbean not to play at the newly-formatted tournament. Costa Rica and Honduras, who both faced England in 2014 in the group stages and warm-up matches respectively, were the last two teams to exit World Cup qualifying on Tuesday night.

Venezuela, Peru and Chile are the three South American countries guaranteed to not feature, with nine of the 11 countries from Oceania also failing to qualify.

With 42 qualified and 145 out, that leaves 22 teams who can still qualify via either the intercontinental or European play-offs.

Europe (Uefa): Slovenia, Greece, Belarus, Georgia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Armenia, Cyprus, San Marino, Iceland, Azerbaijan, Finland, Malta, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Serbia, Latvia, Andorra, Faroe Islands, Montenegro, Gibraltar, Luxembourg, Israel, Moldova, Russia*

Asia (AFC): Mongolia, Maldives, Guam, Sri Lanka*, Macau, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Brunei, Bhutan, Laos, India, Afghanistan, Syria, Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Chinese Taipei, Turkmenistan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Philippines, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Nepal, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, North Korea, Oman, Palestine, Kuwait, Indonesia, China, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates

Africa (CAF): Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sudan, Togo, Mauritania, South Sudan, Nigeria, Benin, Lesotho, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Libya, Angola, Mauritius, Eswatini, Niger, Tanzania, Zambia, Congo*, Eritrea*, Gabon, Gambia, Kenya, Burundi, Seychelles, Uganda, Mozambique, Guinea, Botswana, Somalia, Namibia, Liberia, Malawi, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Madagascar, Mali, Comoros, Central African Republic

North and Central America (Concacaf): Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Bahamas, Saint Lucia, Aruba, Barbados, Guyana, Montserrat, Belize, Dominican Republic, Dominica, British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Anguilla, Guatemala, El Salvador, Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras

South America (CONMEBOL): Venezuela, Peru, Chile

Oceania (OFC): Cook Islands, American Samoa, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Samoa, Tahiti, Fiji

*denotes countries who were either suspended or served suspensions for either all or part of World Cup qualifying

With a total of 161 countries who entered qualifying not making it to the World Cup, some top players from across the world will not feature at the tournament.

In the past, some of the sports greatest names never made an appearance at a World Cup due to their nation failing to qualify. George Best and George Weah were both among the best players of their respective generations, but due to Northern Ireland and Liberia not qualifying during their international careers they never took part in a World Cup.

A starting line-up of the best 11 players not going to the World Cup include a Premier League-winning midfielder, La Liga-winning goalkeeper, and two players who finished in the top 20 of the 2025 Ballon d'Or list.

In goal for the BBC Sport team of top players not going to the World Cup is Atletico Madrid's Jan Oblak. The Slovenian, 32, is his country's first-choice goalkeeper with 82 caps, and has made 381 La Liga appearances for Atletico Madrid since joining them in 2014.

At right-back, Nottingham Forest's Ola Aina played a major role in getting his club side back into the Europa League earlier this year, but saw his national side Nigeria miss out on World Cup qualification.

RB Leipzig centre-back Willi Orban is one of three Hungarians in the side, playing alongside Serbia's Nikola Milenkovic, another member of Forest's side to reach the Europa League.

Liverpool's Milos Kerkez, who joined from Bournemouth for £40m in the summer, joins fellow Hungarian Orban in the defence at left-back.

Manchester United forward Bryan Mbuemo, the Red Devils' top scorer this season, failed to qualify with Cameroon for the World Cup and features on the right wing in this team.

Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai spearheads the midfield of the best team of players not going to the World Cup, alongside Brighton's Carlos Baleba due to the absences of Hungary and Cameroon.

Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia finished 12th in the Ballon d'Or earlier this year, but Georgia again failed to make the World Cup, leaving the PSG star at home this summer.

Another Ballon d'Or nominee, Borussia Dortmund striker Serhou Guirassy, also misses out due to Guinea being unable to qualify.

Completing the team and our all-African forward line is Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen. The Galatasaray forward scored eight goals in qualifying, but it was not enough to get Nigeria into next year's World Cup.

Starting 11: Jan Oblak (Slovenia); Ola Aina (Nigeria), Willi Orban (Hungary), Nikola Milenkovic (Serbia), Milos Kerkez (Hungary); Bryan Mbuemo (Cameroon), Dominik Szoboszlai (Hungary), Carlos Baleba (Cameroon), Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Georgia); Serhou Guirassy (Guinea and), Victor Osimhen (Nigeria)

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