The path to defending your title begins: The Conmebol Qualifiers begin. Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini’s Argentina is one of the clear favorites to qualify directly for the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in unprecedented fashion across three host countries: Mexico, the United States and Canada. The team led by Lionel Scaloni has an important basis from the championship won in Qatar and considering that there are six and a half places this time, the “Dibu” selection will have an easy task, at least on paper.
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However, when taking part in a tournament as long and varied as the South American Qualifying Tournaments, there is always a latent risk that the classification will become more complicated. For this reason, a few years ago one of FIFA’s rules at these tournaments was that the current World Cup winning team automatically qualified for the next tournament; that is, without having to play qualifying tournaments.
World Champion: When did the direct qualification rule change?
This rule was in effect until the 2002 World Cup, which was the first and only one to be held in Asia and to have a dual venue: Korea and Japan. That is, Brazil, which won the title in this tournament, became the first team to participate in the qualification and win the trophy most desired by all footballers. From then on, each of the champions (Italy, Spain, Germany, France and now Argentina) continues this rule. This change was made to maintain competitiveness in all confederation qualifiers and because FIFA believes that having a direct qualifier: the World Cup host is more than sufficient.
Brazil won its last title in 2002. Photo OneFootball