South American World Cup Qualifying explained: Format, qualification spots, nations

Jaquob Crooke Updated: 02 Dec 24 15:14

CONMEBOL World Cup qualification decides which South American nations will qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

A total of 10 nations who are members of the CONMEBOL confederation compete in a league phase to determine which teams will appear in the main tournament that takes place every four years.

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CONMEBOL World Cup qualification format

The South American section of World Cup qualification has abided by the same format since the 1998 World Cup.

Each team plays every other team twice in a home-and-away round-robin format and the qualification process concludes once every nation has played all 18 fixtures.

Qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup commenced in September 2023 and will conclude in September 2025.

CONMEBOL World Cup qualification slots

In a confederation that consists of 10 nations, the top six at the end of the qualification phase are granted automatic entry to the World Cup finals.

Previously, only four nations automatically qualified for the World Cup. However, with the tournament expanding from 32 to 48 teams, CONMEBOL have been awarded an additional two automatic qualification berths.

The nation which finishes seventh is entered into the inter-confederation play-offs where they will face members from AFC, CAF, OFC and CONCACAF.

The inter-confederation play-offs is a six-team tournament which will see the four lowest-ranked teams, according to the FIFA World Rankings, compete in two single elimination matches. The winners will then play the two highest-ranked teams to determine who will qualify for the World Cup.