2. Before1982, the number of teams participating in the World Cup was 16. The number of teams participating in the World Cup in Spain increased from 1982 to 24, and that in France increased from 1998 to 32. In 2026, 48 teams will participate in the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
3. The number of entries is determined according to the number of FIFA member countries and the strength of teams in all continents (Asia, Europe, Africa, North America and South America). Qatar was directly chosen as the host, which is a distinguished guest. The other 365,438+0 teams were decided through the continental qualifiers, with the largest number of teams in Europe, with 65,438+03 places, 5 in Africa, 4.5 in Asia, 4.5 in South America, 3 in Central and North America and the Caribbean, and the remaining 65,438+0 were produced by play-offs. 32 teams are divided into 8 groups, with 4 teams in each group. FIFA assigned eight top teams to different groups as the first echelon, and the remaining teams in the second, third and fourth echelons were arranged in turn and entered the group by lot.
4. Since 1982 World Cup in Spain, the third round of the small team competition has been adjusted to be held at the same time, with the aim of maintaining the fairness of the competition and preventing the team from premeditated and watering.