Will be the same in 2030 I believe but CONMEBOL might be given one of its two playoff spots while Africa could get an extra playoff spot. There are also rumours UEFA could get one but there is opposition to this.
Jamaica have entered a playoff but their chances of getting through must be slim. McClown walks out after failing to beat some bottom tier teams .
I know the amount of teams was extended so that smaller countries like Scotland might get a chance to qualify, but I can’t help but think the amount of games is complete overkill.
I watched Jamaica v Curacao Maybe Jamaica should have won. They hit the woodwork 3 times and missed a one on one. However, they looked like they assumed they just needed to turn up to win. Badly coached and bad attitudes
Curacao have one player in their last squad who was actually born there, and he wasn't in the match day squad. I'm all in favour of diaspora players being able to represent their ancestral countries, but this feels a touch excessive. It's essentially a Netherlands D team.
I wonder how the rest of their confederation feels about them and fellow diaspora heavy Haiti making it while the two playoffs spots have gone to diaspora heavy Jamaica and Suriname,
It is being made out to be a romantic football tale but would they have all signed up to play if Canada, USA and Mexico had been in the qualifying mix? It is doubtful. Six or potentially seven CONCACAF places is extremely excessive. The new format has also ruined COMNEBOL qualification. That used to be quite interesting.
This Jamaican fan’s tweet made me laugh - A bout 500 people live a Curaçao and 22 a them decide fi jump pon a plane come ruin mi life.— 𝔾𝕙𝕠𝕤𝕥. (@paigezxmbie) November 19, 2025
They merit 4 automatic places and anything further should go through playoffs. Absolutely zero risk for the big teams now. It was hardly problematic before, to be fair. You can understand Italy's annoyance where a bad draw (in getting Norway) and a couple of slip ups means they're in the playoffs, whereas Brazil have lost a third of their games and qualified comfortably. Clearly they have tougher games overall, but there's so much leeway now.
The smugness starts here from the jocks. Deciding they don't want England because all the attention will be on us
It hasn't happened in almost 30 years. If something unexpected occurs after that length of time, it normally makes the news.
Mason Holgate and Rico Henry unused subs in that game too. Holgate’s career has gone south quite badly. That said, I bet his wage in Qatar takes the sting out of it a bit.
I'm happy for the Scots. They've got one of the most storied histories in the game, more people per capita watch their league games than any other country in Europe, and they've been through two decades of absolute mediocrity after being a fixture at the World Cup for almost 2 decades. I think they're entitled to go a bit over the top for a change. Yes, they've got their fair share of idiot fans - but who hasn't? Look at the "Two World Wars, One World Cup" brigade we have. Lots of it the anti-English sentiment is long gone - it was bred into kids in certain areas a while back - Jocky Wilson famously never brushed his teeth as his gran told him the English poisoned the water - but most of it now is just banter. I lived there for a couple of years in the 90s and everything was good hearted but competitive. They did all genuinely hate Jimmy Hill, though.
It's clear that they've struggled because most of the players are probably there for a jolly up and have no real connection to Jamaica emotionally
You Gov have done a poll about English, Scottish nd Welsh people views on England and Scotland qualifying for the World Cup. Not only are 74% of Scots happy about Scotland's qualification for the 2026 World Cup, their first since 1998, but those in England are nearly as likely to be happy about Scotland's qualification (40%) as their own (48%)See the chart below for the full results 👇 pic.twitter.com/LKC25Fd0Lq— YouGov (@YouGov) November 19, 2025 https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2025/11/19/05179/2
A lot of those seem to be people who probably aren’t interested in football considering there’s 45% not happy or unhappy about England qualifying
I keep hearing that they are the country with the smallest population to qualify. Then you point out that the entire squad is nicked from Holland .