One spot left 1️⃣: key decision in final round of South American qualifiers

Finally, this Tuesday (8), the South American Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup come to an end.

The ten national teams affiliated with Conmebol take the field, but six are already qualified for the tournament in the United States, Mexico, and Canada next year.

Two others no longer have any chance of qualifying.

And, lastly, two teams are fighting for the only spot in the playoffs.

Thus, OneFootball brings a summary of the current scenario of the South American Qualifiers and what’s at stake in the final round.

Spoiler: Brazil is involved in the future of one of the teams.

As seen above, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Ecuador, Colombia, and Paraguay already have their passports stamped for the 2026 World Cup.

Peru and Chile, on the other hand, are eliminated and need to start thinking about the 2030 World Cup.

Thus, Bolivia and Venezuela are the two teams fighting for the only spot in the playoffs.

The Venezuelans currently occupy seventh place with 18 points, but their Bolivian neighbors are right behind, with 17 points.

And Brazil will face Bolivia, at an altitude of 4,000 meters above sea level, in El Alto.

If the five-time world champions win, the Bolivians are automatically eliminated.

A draw doesn’t help either, since the Venezuelans have a better goal difference (-7 vs -19).

Now, if Bolivia beats Brazil, they will secure the spot if Venezuela loses or draws at home against Colombia.

With the increase in the number of teams in the World Cup from 32 to 48, the playoffs have also changed.

Now called the “intercontinental playoff,” it will be held in a mini-tournament format.

The participants will be 1 representative from the African Confederation, 1 from the Asian Confederation, 1 from Oceania, 1 from Concacaf (in addition to the 3 qualified as hosts), and 2 from the confederations with the highest FIFA ranking among those mentioned (these two go directly to the semifinals).

➡️ The representative from Conmebol (7th place) enters this playoff.

In the format defined by FIFA, the preliminary round (quarterfinals) will be played by the four teams with the lowest ranking among the six in the playoffs, in two knockout matches.

The two winners advance to the semifinals, where they will face the two highest-ranked FIFA teams qualified for this stage.

The winners of these two matches will secure a spot in the 2026 World Cup.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

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