The men’s FIFA World Cup currently features 48 teams in the final tournament.

Quick Scoop

  • The World Cup was expanded from 32 to 48 national teams starting with the 2026 edition hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
  • These 48 teams are placed into 12 groups of 4, with a new knockout phase starting from a round of 32.

A bit of context

  • For every World Cup from 1998 to 2022, the tournament had 32 teams in the finals, but global interest and confederation demands pushed FIFA to expand.
  • The new 48-team format allows more countries from Africa, Asia, and other regions to qualify, increasing the global reach of the tournament.

If you meant qualifiers

  • If the question is about how many teams enter qualifying , that number is much higher: over 200 FIFA member associations typically enter the qualification process for the World Cup.
  • Only 48 of those teams make it through to the actual World Cup finals stage under the current format.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.