2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – CONCACAF third round

The third round of CONCACAF matches of 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification took place during September, October, and November 2025. This round determined the final three CONCACAF teams to directly qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup as well as the two CONCACAF representatives in the inter-confederation play-offs.

Format

As Canada, Mexico, and the United States qualified for the final tournament as hosts, they did not take part in the qualification tournament. Twelve teams – the second round group winners and runners-up – were drawn into three groups of four teams each playing a home-and-away league format. The group winners qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the two best group runners-up advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.

Qualified teams

The following teams finished first or second in their respective second round groups:

Seeding

The draw took place at 19:00 EDT on 12 June 2025. Teams were seeded based on the FIFA Men's World Ranking of June 2025. The draw started with Pot 1; the first team drawn was placed into position A1, the second team drawn into position B1, and the third team drawn into position C1. The process was repeated with Pots 2, 3, and 4.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4

Schedule

Matches took place in September, October, and November 2025.

Matchday	Date	Fixtures
Matchday 1	4–5 September 2025	3 v 2, 4 v 1
Matchday 2	8–9 September 2025	1 v 3, 2 v 4
Matchday 3	9–10 October 2025	2 v 1, 4 v 3
Matchday 4	13–14 October 2025	1 v 4, 2 v 3
Matchday 5	13 November 2025	3 v 1, 4 v 2
Matchday 6	18 November 2025	1 v 2, 3 v 4

Groups

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Ranking of second-placed teams

Discipline

A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following infractions:

Receiving a red card
Receiving two yellow cards in two different matches

The following suspensions were served during the third round:

Team	Player	Infraction	Suspended for match
	Orlando Galo	vs Haiti vs Honduras	vs Nicaragua
	Alexis Gamboa	vs Nicaragua vs Honduras	vs Nicaragua
	Brayan Gil	vs Suriname vs Suriname	vs Panama
	Jefferson Valladares	vs Guatemala vs Suriname	vs Panama
	Carlens Arcus	vs Costa Rica vs Nicaragua	vs Honduras
	Danley Jean Jacques	vs Costa Rica vs Costa Rica	vs Nicaragua
	Getsel Montes	vs Costa Rica vs Haiti	vs Costa Rica
	Isaac Hayden	vs Bermuda vs Trinidad and Tobago	vs Curaçao
	Óscar Acevedo	vs Honduras vs Costa Rica	vs Honduras
	Jason Coronel	vs Costa Rica	vs Honduras vs Haiti
	Christian Reyes	vs Haiti vs Costa Rica	vs Honduras
	Aníbal Godoy	vs Guatemala vs Guatemala	vs El Salvador
	Dhoraso Klas	vs Panama vs El Salvador	vs Guatemala
	Alvin Jones	vs Costa Rica	vs Curaçao