These nations could debut at the 2026 World Cup

Cape Verde, CONCACAF, New Zealand and the lower half of the AFC.

 

Big Cape Verdean community in the Northeast, in places like Bridgeport and Providence, Rhode Island.. also in and around Massachusetts.

Big ups to mis islenos mane.

 

🇨🇻📧 Shamrock Rovers defender Pico Lopes could be the first-ever player recruited by his national team via LinkedIn to play in a World Cup!

Lopes was approached by the Cape Verdean federation but could not understand Portuguese & thought it was spam. Fortunately, they tried… pic.twitter.com/velbcUXdET

— The Sweeper (@SweeperPod) October 13, 2025

 

Everybody has the potential to fill the host groups except the Pot 1 seeded teams and CONCACAF teams.

 

Nigeria leading 3-0. One more goal and they are going to the play offs right. Instead of Burkina Faso. Or am I wrong

 

Yup.

They need just one more goal and the clock is ticking

 

Can they do it. They have been bad this qualifiers, but I Think if they reach the playoffs that they Will qualify for the tournament. The buffer the occasion they usually gets better

 

4-0!!

 

Damn! Tough for Burkina Faso. Gotta feel for them man

 

I know CIV practically has the qualification in the bag but imagine a playoff of Cameroon, CIV, Nigeria and DR Congo that would be brutal

 

yes it really is a shame. I expect DR Congo to beat Sudan. But I wanted Burkina to get a spot

 

Saw the end of the Qatar UAE match. There was 15 added minutes but the Qatar wasted atleast 6-7 minutes. Still the ref blew the wistle after exactly 15 minutes. Very very bad from the ref but not surprising

 

CAPE VERDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Concacaf qualifiers have been more entertaining than I thought.

In Group A, Guatemala has two home matches (against Panama and Suriname) and they are in full in control of their destiny. They qualify by winning both games.

Panama and Suriname can win their two games and still depend on GD to qualify.

In Group B, it's a little bit dissapointing that Curaçao fumbled their advantage by tying T&T after beating Jamaica.

In Group C I think everything will be decided in the Costa Rica vs Honduras of the last matchday. Don't really see Haiti winning the group after losing all their GD against Honduras

 

Was going to say don't think there'll be too many new qualifiers, but Concacaf could pull out one or two. I think Curacao really blew it not holding on against TnT and now must get a result in Jamaica, but qualification is still in their hands. Both Suriname and Guatemala could battle it out to be a first time qualifier from their group.

Keep thinking Haiti should be included in this conversation, but actually they've been to as many World Cups as Jamaica, Panama, and Trinidad & Tobago. Was before my time but still counts, so it's basically Guatemala, Suriname, and Curacao to watch out for.

UEFA does have some teams going into the playoffs maybe like Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, and of course Moldova and San Marino (due to Nations League) but the playoff seedings / format will probably not be kind to them.

 

We have ourselves a debutee in Curaçao!

The smallest country to ever qualify.

 

Good job, and what a important own goal for Suriname at the end, giving Them a play-off spot instead or Honduras

Honduras and Costa Rica both out is a Big disappointment for bort countries

 

carribean football has quite caight up woth central american football, as it seems.

 

It was always a matter of time once they figured out how to capitalize on their diaspora. They're no longer cannon fodders in the region anymore.

 

It helps when most of your team are born in Europe.

 

Or maybe what we saw yesterday was simply manufactured fantasy:
"Exclusively-Caribbean Group of Life in Concacaf produces 1.5 WC squads." Wowsers.

HAI deserves much recognition... Concacaf tried to bury it under Central American teams, and still HAI came out on top.

All I know is that FIFA loves anything keeping fans distracted from important matters:
- WC ticket price gouging
- HAI nationals fully banned from 2026 WC knockouts, if not all from all 2026 WC matches.
- and so on.

 

Interesting looking at the poll results here from before they closed... I personally got 1/5 debutants correct out of Uzbekistan, Finland, Venezuela, Mali, and Oman

Anyway, zero people voted for Curacao, 1 for Jordan, 4 votes for Cabo Verde which was quite impressive, and Uzbekistan was the obvious choice with 20 votes for many people.

The following teams could still qualify for their first ever World Cup:
Suriname, New Caledonia, Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia

Draw is today for the playoffs. I wonder if Albania could be a sleeper for qualification depending on the playoff draw. Kosovo have also been pretty impressive to take 2nd in their group. Suriname are probably outsiders but if they draw New Caledonia and then maybe Iraq could be possible.

DR Congo wouldn't be official debutants obviously but would be the first time playing under that name.

 

I Got 2/3. Uzbekistan the obvious one and Cape Verde the surprise. I also had Mali, who really disappointed me. I remember people seing Them as the favourites to be a debutant from Africa

The Euro playoffs Will be exciting, now that we know the draw. Italy cant really complain.
I like this Kosovo team. Many players from the Bundesliga, and also players from La Liga and Serie A. Perhaps the most improved small team in Europe. They Got some really impressive results in their group.
If they mange to beat Slovakia away, they Will play the final at Home

We also got a potentiel Dr Congo vs Jamaica. The Streets of London Will be crazy.

 

I feel the odds of DR Congo vs Jamaica are insanely high lol

 

I got:
( ) Uzbekistan
( ) Cape Verde
(X) Mali
(?) Suriname
(X) Venezuela
(X) Guatemala

I don't even remember why I voted for Suriname in the first place but they still have a chance.

Mali and Venezuela dissapointed me while Guatemala I think they would have had a better chance in another group