On June 11, a world strained by brinkmanship will tune in to watch co-hosts Mexico face off against South Africa in the hallowed Estadio Azteca to kick off the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It feels increasingly awkward to engage with this event. For starters, the tournament will be held amongst intensifying pressure from fans to reduce the exorbitant ticket prices. This tournament will be held within three nations, of which one’s actions against its international peers and internal populace may have resulted in a qualified nation’s exit from the tournament. Accusations of corruption directed at FIFA have begun to shake the moral integrity of the sport and strike at the soul of the beautiful game.

However, when FIFA announced that this edition of the World Cup would expand the number of entrants from 32 to 48 teams, many national teams saw an opportunity. For historic soccer powerhouses that have fallen into nadirs, nations snakebitten on the fringes of qualification, or for small island countries that have meticulously scanned for talent within their diaspora communities, the jubilation of sending their team to the most watched sporting event in the world has never been more tangible.

This dream has been realized for many of these countries already. As of writing, four nations have qualified automatically for their first World Cup, including Curaçao, the smallest country to ever qualify with a population of 150,000, and a national team which played their first game only fourteen years ago. The same night Curaçao booked its spot, Haiti would qualify for the first time since 1974, all without playing a single game on home soil as the nation reels from crisis upon internal crisis. That same night in Port-au-Prince, the nation's capitol besieged by gangs, and across the country, Haitians celebrated in the streets.

The qualification process for the World Cup is not yet finished; ten slots still remain. In Europe, sixteen nations will compete for the four remaining slots allocated to the continent. Another six nations compete for two spots in the intercontinental playoffs. While these nations were not able to automatically qualify for the World Cup, the matches they prepare for later this month will give them a final chance to qualify to the World Cup. Of the twenty-two that will compete later this month, keep an eye out for these six:

Iraq

Iraq’s national team is not a team unfamiliar with miracles. In 2007, in the midst of the devastating Iraq War, their national team would go on to win the prestigious Asian Cup. The team that lifted that trophy trained under the sounds of airstrikes and grieved from the loss of family, staff members, and dozens of fans killed by suicide bombers before the final. Their victory was one of the greatest triumphs in soccer history.

Yet 20 years later US-Israeli and Iranian missiles streak into the Iraqi sky as the developing Middle Eastern crisis escalates into a frighteningly more kinetic stage. Iraq has been made a battleground once again as American and Iranian-backed forces strike targets throughout the nation. In a cruel twist of fate, one of the strongest teams the Lions of Mesopotamia have put together in decades will attempt to qualify for a place in the World Cup as the nation reels again from instability.

For a moment, it seemed as though Iraq’s playoff match was in jeopardy. Several players and national team staff couldn’t obtain visas to Mexico - the location of the match - when embassies closed throughout the country. The country’s airspace remains closed, forcing the Iraqi soccer federation to scramble to find alternative travel arrangements.

The potential for Iraq’s forfeiture is as unjust as it was tangible. Iraq battled its way through the lengthy, grueling Asian qualification system, narrowly missing out on directly qualifying on two occasions. Their final set of matches against the UAE would only guarantee a spot in this playoff system. The two teams could not be more different - nearly all of the Iraqi players or their parents were born in Iraq, whereas the core of the Emirati side features naturalized players from South America and Portugal. 

But in the dying seconds of the last game with the dreaded penalty shootout waiting in the wings, an Emirati handball in their box sent the ball to the spot. As the Iraqi penalty kicker fired it into the back of the net, the referee whistled for the full time - the Iraqis won on the last kick of the match.

Iraq has named a squad with little turnover from their win against the UAE for the playoffs. They will travel from neighbors Jordan - who just qualified for their first World Cup - to Mexico and will play either Bolivia or Suriname in the playoffs to qualify for a spot in the World Cup.

The Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo made their first World Cup in 1974 while the country was still named Zaire. Their experience, tampered by the incumbent Mobutu-regime, saw them eliminated in the group stages without scoring a goal. But while the DRC has not returned to the tournament since, Les Léopards have long been established as a strong African side unable to qualify for the World Cup in perhaps the most difficult continent to do so. 

This time may be different. After finishing second in the first round of qualifying behind an undefeated Senegal side, DR Congo bested a talented Cameroon side before facing off against a star-studded Nigeria team. DR Congo’s discipline against the Nigerians sent the game to penalties, where the Congolese ultimately prevailed. DR Congo will now play the winner of Jamaica and New Caledonia to book a ticket to the Americas. 

New Caledonia

No offense intended, but as the weakest federation, Oceania has traditionally only been guaranteed one spot in this intercontinental playoff. Every time, this spot has been claimed by New Zealand. But with the expansion of the tournament, the continent is now allocated an automatic spot as well, which in qualifiers was promptly claimed by New Zealand. 

Les Cagous would qualify by eliminating Tahiti 3-0 before losing to New Zealand to qualify for the international playoff, where they look to upset Jamaica and then aforementioned DR Congo to qualify. Ranked 150th in the world, if New Caledonia were to qualify it would be one of the greatest upsets in the history of sport.

Italy

The footballing world generally considers Italy to be one of the great soccer countries. The Italians certainly do themselves. But decades of mismanagement from their nations’ soccer governing body has seen the Italians shockingly fail to qualify for the last two World Cups. Despite winning the European Championship - Europe’s vaunted international tournament - back in 2021, Gli Azzurri have continued their disastrous World Cup qualification form into the latest qualification cycle. Expected to win their group, the Italians instead found themselves in second place, bested thoroughly by the first-place Norwegians both times they placed each other.

In the playoffs, the Italians will face off first against Northern Ireland. Prevailing against them would see Gli Azzuri play the winner of Wales and Bosnia & Herzegovina. All three of these teams are more than capable of forcing the Italians to become spectators once again in the tournament they’ve won four times.

Ireland

On the fifth and penultimate day of European qualifiers, Ireland found themselves on the outside looking in. The qualification cycle had not been going well so far for the Boys in Green, having just secured their first win in their last match a month prior by narrowly beating a struggling Armenian side. The result kept their World Cup hopes alive, but, needing wins against a Christiano Ronaldo-led Portugal on matchday five and a strong Hungarian side on the sixth and final matchday, the margin for error was slim.

Soccer is first and foremost a team sport. Every chance and goal created or conceded by a team is due to the cumulative actions of all eleven players on the pitch. Superstars like Ronaldo alone may change the dynamic of their team entirely, but Ireland have not fielded a player of such a caliber in decades. It makes the actions of Ireland’s Troy Parrott all the more remarkable.

Ireland shocked the group 2-0 upset over an infuriated Portugal - Ronaldo himself was sent off with half an hour left to play after elbowing an Irish defender. Both goals came from Parrott, his first off a point-blank header, his second fired past the Portuguese's keepers near side. Bolstered by the result, the Irish traveled to Budapest, the capital of Hungary, in a faceoff to decide who would retain second-place position to avoid elimination.

With seconds left in stoppage time and game tied at two goals apiece, the Irish found themselves on the brink of elimination once again. Hungary had held the lead for large swaths of the match but they were beginning to become unnerved - perhaps by the tense moment of the occasion, perhaps by two Troy Parrott goals that kept the Irish level. But as the timer ticked past the allotted five minutes of stoppage time, an Irish play was broken up by a Hungarian defender, who cleared it up the field. 

The Irish keeper, collecting the ball at the kickoff line, sent the ball back into the Hungarian box the same way a quarterback would throw a Hail Mary. The ball found the head of an Irish player, but it was not strong enough to put it past the Hungarian keeper. A moment before the keeper could collect it, a charging Parrott nudged the ball beneath the keeper's arms and into the back of the net. The goal - Parrott and Ireland’s fifth in two matches - sent the Irish sideline, away fans, and viewers back at home into bedlam and left the hosts stunned.

The win for the Irish sees them face off against the Czech Republic later this month, and an Irish victory would see them play either Denmark or North Macedonia to secure a spot to the World Cup.

Ukraine

While the modern nation-state of Ukraine has existed for less than forty years, it has contributed to the footballing scene for well over a century. Teams from Ukrainian cities Kyiv, Dnipro, and Luhansk won a combined sixteen championships from the USSR's soccer league, and players born in the then-Soviet republic would be called upon time and time again to represent the Soviet Union in international competitions. 

This month, Ukraine sent their team to compete for World Cup qualifications as the Russo-Ukrainian war drags into its fourth year and large regions of the nation - including Luhansk - remain under occupation. The Zbirna must play their home games in neighboring Poland to ensure the safety of both teams. In spite of this, the Ukrainians have maintained a resolute form throughout the qualification cycle. Besides two defeats from the French national team, Ukraine remained in contention after besting third-place Iceland with two late goals on the last matchday.

The Ukrainians will first play against Sweden, who had a dismal terrible qualification cycle but still retain a squad loaded with talent. Should Ukraine beat the Swedes, they would face either Albania or Poland to qualify.