Japan has become the first country to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup

2025-03-20 Dave Thomson Kim 기자

Yuto Nagatomo and Maya Yoshida of Japan lead the team in a warm up during the Japan Training Session at Al Sadd SC New Training Facilities on November 25, 2022 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Christopher Lee/Getty Images)

Japan has become the first country to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North and Central America. It has also qualified for the World Cup finals for the 8th consecutive time.

The Japanese national soccer team, led by coach Hajime Moriyasu, won 2-0 in the 7th match of Group C of the North and Central America World Cup Asian 3rd qualifying round against Bahrain at Saitama Stadium in Japan on the 20th with Daichi Kamada's winning goal in the 21st minute of the second half and Takefusa Kubo's decisive goal in the 42nd minute of the second half.

Kubo led Japan's victory with 1 goal and 1 assist.

With this, Japan has continued its undefeated streak with 6 wins and 1 draw, accumulating 19 points and securing at least 2nd place in the group regardless of the results of the remaining 3 matches, securing a ticket to North and Central America.

Saudi Arabia, currently in third place with one game less played (1 win, 3 draws, 2 losses, 6 points), will not be able to catch up with Japan even if they win all four of their remaining games.

In the third round of the Asian qualifiers for the North and Central America World Cup, the six teams that placed first and second in each of the three groups will advance directly to the main tournament. After that, the six teams that placed third and fourth in each group will be divided into two groups and play in the fourth round of qualifiers, with the first place team in each group earning an additional ticket to the main tournament.

The two teams that placed second in the fourth round of qualifiers will play in the playoffs, and the winners will advance to the continental POs to finally challenge for a spot in North and Central America.

Japan is the first country in the world to have confirmed its spot in the North and Central America World Cup, which will increase the number of countries that will advance to the main tournament to 48, excluding the United States, Canada, and Mexico, which automatically advance as co-hosts.

Japan has previously been the first country to advance to the World Cup finals three times in a row, from the 2006 Germany tournament to the 2014 Brazil tournament.

In addition, Japan has also advanced to the World Cup finals eight times in a row, starting with the 1998 France tournament, when it first appeared on the main stage. Japan's best World Cup performance to date is advancing to the round of 16 three times (2002, 2018, 2022).