2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)
The South American section of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be held in Canada, Mexico, and the United States for national teams who are members of CONMEBOL. A total of 6 direct slots in the final tournament and 1 inter-confederation play-off slot were available for CONMEBOL teams.
CONMEBOL was the first confederation to begin its qualification process for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with [|Paraguay–Peru] being the first match of the global qualification process.
Format
On 22 August 2022, CONMEBOL sent a request to FIFA asking to keep the current qualification format that had been used since the 1998 World Cup qualification in South America. This was confirmed, with the first games of the qualifiers tentatively to be played in March or June 2023.On 27 February 2023, CONMEBOL president Alejandro Domínguez announced that the qualifiers would start in September 2023, which was ratified by the CONMEBOL Council in the run-up to the 73rd FIFA Congress held on 16 March in Kigali, Rwanda.
The qualification structure remained the same as in previous editions, wherein each team played each other team twice in a home-and-away round-robin format.
Prior to the commencement of the qualification competition, Ecuador were deducted 3 points for the use of a document containing false information for Byron Castillo in the previous World Cup qualification cycle.
Schedule
The qualifying matches were held on a total of 18 matchdays on dates that fall within the FIFA International Match Calendar. The match schedule was same that was used in the previous edition of the competition. Six matchdays were played in each of 2023, 2024, and 2025.EntrantsAll 10 national teams from CONMEBOL entered qualification.
MatchesMatchday 1-------- ---- ---- Matchday 2-------- ---- ---- Matchday 3-------- ---- ---- Matchday 4-------- ---- ---- Matchday 5-------- ---- ---- Matchday 6-------- ---- ---- Matchday 7-------- ---- ---- Matchday 8-------- ---- ---- Matchday 9-------- ---- ---- Matchday 10-------- ---- ---- Matchday 11-------- ---- ---- Matchday 12-------- ---- ---- Matchday 13-------- ---- ---- Matchday 14-------- ---- ---- Matchday 15-------- ---- ---- Matchday 16-------- ---- ---- Matchday 17-------- ---- ---- Matchday 18-------- ---- ---- Inter-confederation play-offsThe seventh-place team, Bolivia, will join DR Congo, Iraq, Jamaica and Suriname, and New Caledonia in the inter-confederation play-offs.The teams were ranked according to the November 2025 FIFA Men's World Ranking, with the four lowest-ranked teams playing in two matches. The winners will meet the two highest-ranked teams in another set of matches, with the winners of these matches qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Qualified teamsThe following teams from CONMEBOL qualified for the final tournament.
DisciplineA player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following infractions:
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