With the latest round of qualifiers done and dusted, UEFA and Concacaf sides punched their tickets to the FIFA World Cup 2026™ and claimed the final direct spots ahead of the
Play-Off Tournament and European Play-Off draws to be held at Home of FIFA in Zurich on Thursday 20 November.
The draws will determine the pathways that the 22 competing nations (six via the Play-Off Tournament and 16 through the European Play-Offs) will need to navigate if they are to secure one of the six remaining places at the first-ever 48-team FIFA World Cup™, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States next summer.
A total of 149 national-team outings, including 74 friendlies, have been contested around the world since the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking was last updated, producing various changes in the pecking order.
Towards the top, Brazil (5th, up 2) have risen two places at the expense of Portugal (6th, down 1) and the Netherlands (7th, down 1), while Italy (12th, down 3) have slipped out of the top 10. They fell three spots after a 4-1 home defeat by Norway, whose victory means that they are one of the 42 outfits guaranteed to grace the global showpiece in 2026.
Capitalising on the Azzurri’s stumble, Croatia (10th, up 1) are back in the top 10, while the four sides setting the pace are the same as in October’s ranking: Spain, Argentina, France and England respectively.
Another team making strides towards the upper end of the standings are one of the hosts of next year’s global bonanza, the USA (14th, up 2), who have overtaken co-hosts Mexico (15th, down 1). The North American pair are the two top-ranked Concacaf sides.
Elsewhere in the top 50, Nigeria (38th, up 3), Tunisia (40th, up 3) and, in particular, Uzbekistan (50th, up 5) enjoy impressive climbs. The latter has made waves by reclaiming their place amongst the 50 leading nations after a nine-year hiatus – the last time they achieved the feat was in October 2016.
alongside Uzbekistan, three other sides can also boast having moved up five places in the standings: the Philippines (136th, up 5), Turkmenistan (137th, up 5) and Malta (161st, up 5). Kosovo (80th, up 4) have once again broken new ground and are in good stead to be crowned the year’s biggest climbers.
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