FIFA officially confirms Canadian men’s automatic 2026 World Cup qualification

February 15, 2023

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The Canadian men’s national soccer team has officially qualified for the 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup.

Soccer’s international governing body confirmed that Canada — along with the U.S. and Mexico — have secured automatic berths as co-hosts of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The marquee event — set to begin on June 3, 2026 and conclude on July 8, 2026 — will have 16 cities across the three countries host games, which includes Toronto and Vancouver.

FIFA released a statement Tuesday saying: “The FIFA Council confirmed that, in line with the long-standing tradition of having all hosts competing at the FIFA World Cup, as well as sporting and operational considerations, the hosts of the FIFA World Cup 2026, namely Canada, Mexico and the USA, will qualify automatically for the final round of the competition, with their slots therefore being deducted from the overall allocation of six assigned to CONCACAF.”

A new expanded format will debut at the 2026 World Cup, with the number of teams participating increasing from 32 to 48.

The event will also be the first that features three nations as co-hosts.

Both Japan and South Korea claimed automatic berths as co-hosts in 2002 and was the only event in men’s history that featured matches taking place in more than one country.

The Canadian men ended a 36-year drought between World Cup appearances when it qualified for Qatar in 2022. Canada lost all three of its group-stage matches to Belgium, Croatia and Morocco.

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