Latest 2026 World Cup qualifying schedule for South America

Nearly nine months after the World Cup final in Qatar ended with Argentina being the world champion, the road to the 2026 World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada begins with the South American regional qualifiers.

In the first match, Argentina will face Ecuador at the Monumental Stadium. This is one of five matches taking place between Friday and Saturday as eight other Conmebol regional teams also make their debuts.

05:30: Paraguay vs Peru

06:00: Colombia vs Venezuela

07:00: Argentina vs Ecuador

September 10

06:00: Uruguay vs Chile

07:45: Brazil vs Bolivia

03h00: Bolivia vs Argentina

04:00: Ecuador vs Uruguay

05:00: Venezuela vs Paraguay

07:30: Chile vs Colombia

09:00: Peru vs Brazil

The format is the same as the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, although there is a new special point in the number of places to qualify for the finals. Conmebol still maintains a round-robin format, in which each team will face each other twice, at home and away.

In the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, South America has 6 direct tickets, while the 7th ranked team plays in the play-offs. This represents a big difference from what happened before, with four teams participating directly in the World Cup and the fifth team going into the play-offs. The change comes from the fact that the new World Cup will have 48 teams participating instead of 32 teams as in previous tournaments.