The Socceroos have secured their position in the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a 2-1 come-from-behind win against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Australia won it back after conceding an early goal to Abdulrahman Al Obud and celebrated by scoring through Connor Metcalfe and Mitchell Duke to confirm their qualification.
Saudi Arabia, who required a five-goal difference to qualify directly, now advance to the next stage of Asian qualifiers. They will be in a three-nation group with two teams from a pool that includes the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Indonesia, Iraq, and Oman. Significantly, Oman qualified after winning a 97th-minute penalty in a 1-1 draw with Palestine, knocking the latter out of the running.
Aside from co-hosts United States, Mexico, and Canada being the automatic qualifiers, the below teams have qualified for the World Cup thus far:
Asia: Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, South Korea, Uzbekistan
Oceania: New Zealand
South America: Argentina
First-Time World Cup Finalists
Uzbekistan and Jordan became historical figures by qualifying for their very first World Cup finals. Ranked 57th globally, Uzbekistan is populated by 36 million people and started competing as an independent country in 1992 after gaining independence from the Soviet Union. They became members of FIFA in 1994.
Their best bid for qualification was in 2006 when a refereeing error during a playoff against Bahrain made the game have to be replayed. Although they won the initial match 1-0, they were ultimately knocked out on away goals.
Uzbekistan has regularly appeared in all the Asian Cups since 1996, making it to the knockout phase every time since 2004. They have had their best result in 2011 as semi-finalists and a quarter-final last year.
Jordan, 62nd in the world, also has a breakthrough moment. With their first World Cup qualifiers in 1986, their closest attempt at qualification came in 2014 when they fell in an intercontinental playoff to Uruguay. Their last 3-0 victory against Oman, along with South Korea’s 2-0 victory over Iraq, secured Jordan’s first-ever entry into the tournament.
