World Cup started with 210 teams. After 1,046 days, two remain

The 2026 World Cup‘s campaign is almost over. 

The tournament began with qualifying on September 7, 2023, with three matches in the South American region. That day included Argentina, which beat Ecuador 1-0. 

Lionel Messi scored the lone goal for Argentina that day and the 39-year-old will likely be active for the final match of the tournament. Argentina will take on Spain at 3 p.m. ET on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. 

In total, it took the tournament 1,046 days to reach its conclusion. 

The qualifying process included 206 teams, plus the final tournament’s three hosts, Canada, Mexico and the United States. Those 206 teams were whittled down across six confederations, with the last 45, plus the hosts, reaching the final tournament. 

Check out the elimination progress below, with national flags disappearing based on the date of the corresponding team’s final match: 

If you can’t see the graphic above, click here to view.

Eritrea, which is not shown in the visual, also entered qualifying but withdrew before playing due to concerns that players would seek political asylum abroad. That puts the initial entrants list at 210, which ties the record set in 2022. 

The 2018 tournament had 209 teams enter qualifying, including automatic qualifiers, while 2014 had 204. Every version since 2010 has had at least 200 initial entrants. 

Despite the final tournament increasing from 32 teams to 48, qualifying still produced a couple of shocks. That includes four-time World Cup champion and 2020 European champion Italy, which failed to qualify for its third-straight World Cup. 

On top of that surprise, traditional African powers Nigeria and Cameroon missed out on qualifying, with the latter losing out on an automatic berth to final tournament darlings Cape Verde. 

Teams won’t have long to wait after the 2026 tournament closes to begin their campaign for the 2030 final tournament, which will be held primarily in Morocco, Portugal and Spain. At the very least, qualifying will begin next year for CONCACAF — the confederation for Canada, Mexico and the U.S. 

Methodology: Team finishing dates based on date of final match. Dates obtained from FIFA’s match center for World Cup qualifiers and final tournament. 

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: World Cup started with 210 teams. After 1,046 days, two remain