According to the qualifiers, this is the first time that seven Arab teams have qualified for this global football extravaganza, with a chance for an eighth Arab team to join the World Cup. The UAE and Iraq will meet on November 13 and 18 to determine the team that will represent Asia in the global playoff, offering a final opportunity to reach the 2026 World Cup finals, hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
The qualification of seven Arab teams for the World Cup is attributed to the increase in the number of participating teams in the finals to 48, marking the first time in the history of the global football competition. This is the seventh time Saudi Arabia has qualified for the World Cup finals, while it is the second time for Qatar (after first hosting the tournament on its soil) and the first for Jordan.
Both Morocco and Tunisia have previously qualified for the tournament six times, making this their seventh qualification. Algeria has qualified five times and Egypt four times. Kuwait, Iraq, and the UAE have previously qualified in past tournaments, with the opportunity remaining for either the UAE or Iraq to qualify for the global playoff.
