On the 20th, the Japanese national team faced Bahrain in the 7th round of the FIFA World Cup 26 Asia final qualifying round, winning 2-0. As a result, it has been decided that they will be competing in the World Cup for the eighth consecutive tournament.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be held jointly by three countries, the most in history, including the United States, Canada and Mexico. The event will be held in 16 cities in 16 cities, 11 venues in the United States, 2 venues in two cities in Canada, and 3 venues in three cities in Mexico. The opening game will be held at the Estadio Aztec in Mexico on Thursday, June 11th, 2026, with Mexico's national team, one of the host countries, in the opening game. The final will be held on Sunday, July 19th at MetLife Stadium in the United States.
The biggest change in this tournament is the expansion of the number of participating countries. The first tournament was held in Uruguay in 1930 in only 13 countries. From there, the country continued to expand to 16, 24 and 32 countries, and finally reached 48 countries. The 48 participating countries will be divided into 12 groups, each in four countries, and compete in the group stage. Until now, the top two countries in each group have advanced to the final tournament, but from this tournament, in addition to the top two countries in the group stage, the top eight countries in the third place in each group have advanced to the final tournament. They will compete in the final tournament in a total of 32 countries. The total number of matches in the 32-country format up to Qatar was 64, but this tournament was 104.
The highest results for the Japanese national team are in the top 16 of the past four times (2002, 2010, 2018, and 2022), and we are expected to see results in the top 8 or higher in the next tournament. However, as the number of participating countries increases, this tournament has finally won the first round of the final tournament and is finally in its final 16. They won twice in the final tournament and ended up in the final eight.
The pot division of the group stage draw will be determined by the latest FIFA rankings. Japan is currently ranked 15th, and if things continue like this, it is likely that they will be in Pot 2. He surprised the world by defeating the German national team (pot 2) and the Spanish national team (pot 1), which have won the Qatar tournament. This tournament will be a “stood position” and will face an ambitious country that will “beat Japan, which is in the top FIFA rankings.” The date and time of the lottery has not been announced.
