48 Teams Set! The USA-Canada-Mexico World Cup Still Faces Imperfect Preparations

Written by Han Bing With Iraq's 2-1 victory over Bolivia, all 48 participating teams for the USA-Canada-Mexico World Cup are now confirmed. FIFA has reason to be proud, as this is the largest World Cup in history, featuring an unprecedented number of teams and geographical coverage—from Norway within the Arctic Circle in the north, to Argentina closest to Antarctica in the south, from New Zealand in the east at UTC+12, to the USA in the west at UTC-11, spanning 19 time zones. However, this does not mean this historically largest World Cup is entirely perfect.

This marks the first time since the 2010 World Cup that teams from all six continents are included again. It also introduces four new debutants: Jordan, Uzbekistan, Cape Verde, and Curaçao, filling the geographical gap of Central Asia having no World Cup participant and bringing Caribbean representation back after 20 years, now with a record two teams. Additionally, the Arab region reaches an unprecedented eight participating teams.

The 50% expansion in World Cup participants has allowed many teams long absent from the tournament to return. Teams returning after missing three editions (16 years) or more include Paraguay, New Zealand (16 years), Czech Republic (20 years), Turkey (24 years), Austria, Norway, Scotland (28 years), Iraq (40 years), Democratic Congo, and Haiti (52 years). Moreover, South Africa also qualifies through the playoffs after a 24-year absence.

The unprecedented number of teams in the playoffs fulfilled dreams for Czech Republic, Turkey, Iraq, and Democratic Congo to return to the World Cup after many years, while also providing Albania, Kosovo, Suriname, and even nearly amateur-team New Caledonia their closest chance to reach the World Cup. For FIFA, which has always aimed to bring the World Cup to every corner of the globe, filling new gaps on the World Cup map and delivering the immense benefits of participation to more nations is a success story even before the tournament begins.

The "Football Kingdom" Brazil continues to refresh its record as the only team to participate in every World Cup, reaching 23 appearances this edition. Germany follows closely, raising the European record to 21 appearances, surpassing Italy (18 appearances), which was tied for the European lead in 2014. Argentina (19 appearances) rises to third place, while co-host Mexico ties with Italy.

In terms of consecutive World Cup appearances, Brazil (23 times) leads far ahead, followed by Germany (19 times). Argentina (14 times) also ties with Italy for third place. Spain reaches 13 times, just one behind Italy. South Korea (11 times) ranks sixth, also setting a new record for Asian teams' consecutive appearances.

In the 96-year history of the World Cup, 15 teams that have reached the final are present this edition, missing only four-time champion Italy and two-time runner-up Hungary. This is the most complete lineup of finalist teams since the 1990 World Cup, 36 years later.

From the world rankings after the playoffs, only Italy (12th) and Denmark (20th) from the top 20 are absent. Only four teams from the top 32 are missing, including Nigeria (26th) and Ukraine (32nd). This is the edition with the fewest absences among the top 32 ranked teams since the expansion to 32 teams in 1998. In contrast, the 32-team 2022 World Cup had seven top-32 teams absent.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino is confident about this World Cup, not only because it is the first jointly hosted by three nations, but also due to its unprecedented participant coverage. Yet, this World Cup still has three imperfections.

From a competitive perspective, four-time World Cup champion Italy missing the tournament for the third consecutive time is arguably the biggest "imperfection." The World Cup could have reunited all eight champion teams since 2014, 12 years later, but Italy fell short, eliminated by Bosnia in the European playoff final. This is undoubtedly a significant blow to ticket sales in North America, which has large Italian-American communities.

Additionally, increasing political interference in football brings more negative impacts on the expansion of the World Cup map, making this edition even more "imperfect." Russia, banned for four years, was originally a favorite to qualify. If not politically hindered, its participation could have achieved unprecedented 24-time zone coverage, making it a truly global World Cup.

Whether Iran can participate smoothly remains unknown. Although Infantino recently assured Iran's participation, the decision rests with host nation the USA. Trump has declared inability to guarantee the safety of Iran's participants and refuses entry visas for the Iranian delegation. Infantino's promise only covers Iran participating according to its original draw group, meaning Iran's group stage matches would still be in the USA—indicating that despite the 48-team list being finalized, there remains potential for team replacements before the World Cup opens on June 11.