The 2026 World Cup will have a record 48 teams, and defending champion Argentina on Tuesday became the first South American team to secure a spot. Iran also clinched a berth. New Zealand qualified on Monday, five days after Japan became the first nation excluding the three hosts to secure a spot. Next year’s tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada kicks off on June 11 and the final will take place on July 19. Forty-three teams will get their spots through their continent’s qualifying process. Another two will secure their berths in the international playoffs featuring six teams and scheduled for March 2026. What is the breakdown of berths? Asia will have eight direct berths and one in the intercontinental playoff. Africa has nine direct spots plus one for the intercontinental playoff. Argentina beats Brazil 4-1 after securing its place at the 2026 World Cup North and Central America plus the Caribbean get three direct berths and another two spots in the intercontinental playoffs. South America has six direct spots and will send another team to the intercontinental playoffs. Oceania for the first time has a guaranteed spot at the World Cup, and New Zealand clinched that with a 3-0 win over New Caledonia in Auckland. It could add another with New Caledonia going into the intercontinental playoffs. Europe will have 16 teams sure to play in the next World Cup. Who has qualified so far? The three host countries automatically qualify — and thus occupy three of the CONCACAF spots Host nations United States, Mexico, Canada Asia Japan (qualified on March 20 by beating Bahrain 2-0) Iran (qualified on March 25 in 2-2 draw with Uzbekistan) Oceania New Zealand (qualified on March 24 by beating New Caledonia 3-0) South America Argentina (qualified on March 25 after Bolivia failed to beat Uruguay)

Defending champion Argentina had to put the celebrations on hold for a while after securing a place at the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday before kickoff against archrival Brazil. Bolivia’s failure to beat Uruguay meant Argentina had enough cushion in South American qualifying to secure one of the continent’s six direct spots for the 48-team World Cup set to be co-hosted next year by the US, Canada and Mexico. After Bolivia's 0-0 draw with Uruguay at El Alto, Argentina beat Brazil 4-1 in front of 85,000 fans at the Monumental de Nunez Stadium despite the absence of Lionel Messi. Brazil's worst deficit in South American World Cup qualifying history compounded pressure on coach Dorival Júnior, who took over in January of last year. Brazil is in fourth place in South American qualifying with 21 points, 10 behind Argentina but only two behind second-place Ecuador, which was held to a 0-0 draw by Chile. Third-place Uruguay and fifth-place Paraguay also have 21 points, and Colombia is one point behind them in sixth. Seventh-place Venezuela has 15 points after a 1-0 win over 9th-place Peru. AFC Asian Cup: Hamza's Bangladesh dominate India in Shillong but waste chances as game ends goalless Brazil was missing three regular starters — goalkeeper Alisson, defender Gabriel Magalhães and midfielder Bruno Guimarães — and wasn't really competitive from start to finish. It's the first time Argentina has won both matches against Brazil in a World Cup qualifying tournament. The home victory was also Argentina's first against the Brazilians since qualifying for the 2006 World Cup. Argentina has led South American qualifying from the start, with few hiccups and major away wins at Brazil and Uruguay. But coach Lionel Scaloni has not fielded 37-year-old Messi in several games, which still raises doubts on whether the star will play at the World Cup next year. Messi has an injury to his adductor and was not included in Argentina’s squad for the two latest matches. Argentina scored its two first goals in only 12 minutes of play, both thanks to accurate passing and some clumsy Brazilian defending. Julián Alvarez netted the first in the 4th minute after Marquinhos, Murillo and Guilherme Arana failed to reach the ball. The Argentina striker shot between the legs of goalkeeper Bento from close range. Argentina scored again eight minutes later with Enzo Fernández, once again from close range after a low cross by Gonzalo Molina. Brazil got one back via Matheus Cunha in the 26th after a mistake by Cristian Romero, who lost the ball to the Brazilian by the edge of the box. Enzo Fernandez found Alexis Mac Allister bursting into the penalty box unmarked 11 minutes later to make it 3-1 to Argentina. During the break, Brazil sought to get some grip by boosting its presence in the midfield with Joao Gomes and the substitution of Murillo and striker Rodrygo. But it was to no avail, with Giuliano Simeone scoring for Argentina in the 71st minute. “All of us can do better than this. It isn't only about Dorival,” Brazil's captain Marquinhos said. “This is not only the coach's fault, it is the players too. We need to have our heads in the right place. They (Argentina) also had tough times before and they overcame it. We can do it too.”

Former Mexico coach Miguel Herrera has been hired as coach of the Costa Rica men's national team. The 56-year-old Herrera, who led Mexico to the 2014 World Cup, was appointed late Tuesday by the Costa Rican soccer federation. The veteran Mexican coach will fill the vacancy after Gustavo Alfaro resigned in August to coach Paraguay. Costa Rica has advanced to the third round of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers alongside 11 other countries trying to secure three direct spots for the 2026 World Cup. The United States, Canada and Mexico are already qualified as host nations. The next round of qualifying matches begins next September. Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior banned for two matches after red card Herrera has coached six-first division teams in Mexico including America, where he won Apertura titles in 2013 and 2018. Under Herrera, Mexico won a playoff against New Zealand in 2013 to qualify for the World Cup in Brazil, where the Mexicans were eliminated in the round of 16. He also helped Mexico win the 2015 Gold Cup and was fired soon after for allegedly fighting a TV journalist in a Philadelphia airport.

The Asian Football Confederation has confirmed a new qualifying format to factor in its expanded number of direct entries for a 48-team World Cup in 2026. The governing body for soccer in Asia issued a statement Monday saying a four-round qualifying system has been designed in preparation for the eight direct spots and single intercontinental playoff slot allocated to the AFC following the expansion of the World Cup. Under the new system, the teams ranked 26th to 47th in Asia will participate in the first round of qualifying, with 11 teams advancing to join the top 25 in a second-round home-and-away series comprising nine groups. The top two teams in each of those groups will progress to the third round, which will be divided into three groups of six competing in round-robin format. The first and second teams in each of those groups will get direct entries for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The third- and fourth-place teams will go into a playoff round that will be divided into two groups of three. The winners of those groups will secure spots at the World Cup; the runners-up will go into a playoff for Asia’s spot in an intercontinental playoff for a last-ditch chance at qualifying. Asia had four direct entries for the 2022 World Cup which kicks off Nov. 21, with the first- and second-place teams — Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Japan — in two six-team groups from the third round of qualifying getting automatic spots for Qatar. The two third-place teams met for the right to play off against the fifth-place South American team for another World Cup slot. Australia beat United Arab Emirates in the Asian playoff, and then beat Peru in an intercontinental playoff to secure the 31st of 32 spots at the World Cup in Qatar. Read: Messi, Neymar score in 4-0 win as PSG wins Champions Trophy The AFC said the qualifying format for the 2026 World Cup, and for the 2027 Asian Cup, was based on the entry of all 47 member associations “and is subject to change depending on the final number of entries.” The Women’s Asian Cup will be staged in 2026, with the AFC confirming that Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Uzbekistan and Australia have expressed interest in hosting the tournament. The AFC also plans to move the timing of its flagship continental men’s club tournament, the Asian Champions League, to start with a preliminary stage in August of next year and conclude with a final in May 2024. The executive board also approved the recommendation to eliminate the away goals rule as the tiebreaker for teams finishing equal on competition points. Instead, extra time and, if necessary, penalty shootouts will be used to determine the winner of games in the home-and-away season.