The Australian national football team joins the privileged list of invitees to the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in Mexico, Canada, and the United States, after defeating Saudi Arabia (2-1) in the tenth and final matchday of the third phase of qualification of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
With the victory, the Socceroos reached 19 points to secure the second place in Group C, behind Japan (23), and thus taking a six-point lead over the Arabs, who will have to seek their qualification in the fourth phase.
Australia joins Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, and Japan as the teams that had already qualified from the AFC; leaving only two spots available for this confederation, as well as one spot for the intercontinental playoff.
In this way, Australians will compete in their sixth consecutive World Cup and their seventh in their history. Their first World Cup was in Germany 1974, where they did not advance past the group stage. It took them 32 years to return to the top national team competition.
Their best performances were in Germany 2006 and Qatar 2022, where they reached the round of 16, although in the first one they finished in 16th place, while in the other they were tenth.
The qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup
- Mexico
- United States
- Canada
- Japan
- Iran
- Argentina
- New Zealand
- Uzbekistan
- South Korea
- Jordan
- Australia