The six teams already qualified for next World Cup with FIFA special treatment | Football | Sport

Having seen three nations qualify automatically for the 2026 World Cup, that figure is set to double for the 2030 edition of the international tournament. Host countries Canada, Mexico and the United States were the three sides that bypassed qualifying on this occasion. In four years’ time, however, six nations will be staging at least one fixture at the tournament. The reigning World Cup champions do not earn automatic qualification for the subsequent edition, though this will be irrelevant for finalists Spain and Argentina.

That’s because both nations are already among the 2030 co-hosts, together with Morocco, Paraguay, Portugal and Uruguay, who will all qualify automatically. Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will each stage a single match to mark the centenary of the World Cup. While the remainder of the tournament proceeds elsewhere, these nations are exempt from the gruelling qualification process in a special departure from standard procedure.

The 1930 World Cup, the inaugural edition of the tournament, was held in and won by Uruguay. They defeated Argentina in the final, while Paraguay’s inclusion recognised its status as the home of CONMEBOL, the sole football confederation at the time.

Spain, Morocco and Portugal are the three principal co-hosts who will share the overwhelming majority of the tournament following the opening centenary celebration matches. FIFA has additionally announced measures to provide extra rest periods for sides competing in South America.

Those centenary fixtures will take place on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June, 2030. The opening European or North African matches will then follow on Thursday 13th, and Friday 14th.

The games involving the remaining teams in the groups of Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay are scheduled for Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th, with the second round of fixtures in that group set for the following weekend.

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“The intended schedule will provide approximately 11 to 12 days for travel and rest before the second game of the six teams playing in South America, with approximately five to six days for travel and rest for the remaining six group opponents, and all other participating teams,” FIFA said in a statement published in March this year.

“The three matches played in South America will be brought forward to a few days before the official opening matches of the FIFA World Cup, which will be played in Morocco, Portugal and Spain.”

This year’s tournament marks the first edition of the World Cup to feature 48 nations. Nevertheless, the governing body has considered enlarging the competition to 64 teams ahead of the centenary event.

“When you organise a World Cup, it’s important that you organise it for the whole world,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino told Blue Sport. “It’s not just Europe and South America, but the entire world, effectively.

“Every nation should be able to dream of taking part in the World Cup. We can see that the quality of the teams is extremely high, and it’s getting higher and higher everywhere in the world. If you don’t give smaller countries the chance to participate in the World Cup, they also lose the incentive to keep improving.”

The 2026 World Cup allocated 16 guaranteed places to European sides, nine to African nations, eight to Asian teams, six each to North and South America (including the three North American host nations), one to Oceania, and two to the victors of inter-continental play-offs.

Those play-offs were claimed by the Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq, boosting Africa and Asia’s total allocations to 10 and nine respectively.