MIAMI, Florida – Thirty-two national teams will battle for three automatic spots in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, when CONCACAF qualifying kicks off in March.
Trinidad and Tobago take on Grenada on the opening match day.Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, the only countries from the English-speaking Caribbean to have qualified for a World Cup, headline the campaign which will be played over three rounds.
United States, Canada and Mexico will not feature in the confederation qualifiers, having already secured their places by virtue of being hosts.
The opening round, from March 22-26, will see four teams – Turks and Caicos Islands, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands and the US Virgin Islands – contesting two playoff legs to determine the two teams which will advance to the second round.
Anguilla will take on Turks and Caicos Islands while the US Virgin Islands clash with British Virgin Islands in home-and-away ties, with the aggregate winners advancing.
The four teams are the confederation’s four lowest-ranked teams based on the FIFA World Rankings last December.
The second round, which gets underway June 5, will be played across six groups of five and over nine match-days, ending in June next year.
Twelve teams – the group winners and the runners-up – will move on to the final round which will determine the three automatic World Cup spots.
CONCACAF will have two other World Cup berths available as the two best runners-up from the final round of qualifying will then feature in a FIFA Play-off Tournament, for another chance to reach the global showpiece.
The final round will be contested in September, October, and November next year.
The highlight of the opening match-day of the second round will see Trinidad and Tobago hosting Grenada in Group B while regional giants, the Reggae Boys, play hosts to the Dominican Republic in Group E the next day.
