The final two places

Two of the 48 places at World Cup 2026 were reserved for an intercontinental play-off. Six teams from five confederations gathered to contest them in March 2026, hosted in Mexico as a warm-up event in World Cup cities.

How it worked

The six sides were seeded by world ranking. The two highest-ranked teams went straight into single-match finals, while the other four met in knockout semi-finals; the winners then played the seeded teams for a place at the World Cup.

• 6 teams, drawn from five confederations
• 2 World Cup places on offer
• Host: Mexico, March 2026

High stakes, single games

With everything decided over one-off matches, the play-offs delivered tension and opportunity in equal measure — a final, dramatic doorway into the finals for nations that had battled through long regional qualifying campaigns to get there.