16 teams from the European zone will qualify for the World Cup final tournament - 12 group winners, while the 12 runners-up and the four best group winners of the 2024/2025 UEFA Nations League season, which will be outside the top two in the qualifying groups, will participate in the play-off round.

The World Cup finals will be held in Canada, Mexico and the United States in June and July 2026.

Three host nations have already qualified for the final tournament: Japan, New Zealand, Iran, Argentina, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Australia, Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay, Colombia, Paraguay, Morocco.

In 2026, the World Cup final tournament will feature 48 teams instead of 32 for the first time.

List of candidates for the Latvian national team:

goalkeepers - Rihards Matrevics (Prague"Dukla", Czech Republic), Krišjānis Zviedris ("Riga"), Frenks Dāvis Orols ("Grobina");

defenders - Daniel Balodis (Prešov "Tatran", Slovakia), Andrejs Cigaņiks ("Luzern", Switzerland), Raivis Andris Jurkovskis, Antonijs Chernomordys, Maksims Toņiševs (all -"Riga"), Vitalys Jagodinskys (Phnom Penh"Visakha", Cambodia), Deniss Melniks ("Auda"), Roberts Savaļnieks, Roberts Veips (both - RFS);

midfielders - Kristaps Grabovskis (Copenhagen B.93, Denmark), Alvis Jaunzems (Lechia Gdańsk, Poland), Kristers Penkevics ("Jelgava"), Aleksejs Saveļjevs ("Liepāja"), Lukass Vapne ("Sogndal", Norway), Renārs Varslavāns ("Riga"), Eduards Dashkevičs ("Auda"), Dmitrijs Zelenkovs (RFS);

Forwards - Jānis Ikaunieks (RFS), Vladislavs Gutkovskis (Daejo Citizen, South Korea), Marko Regža ("Riga"), Bruno Melnis ("Liepāja"), Dario Šit ("Atletico Madrileno", Spain).

List of candidates for the Serbian national team:

goalkeepers - Džordže Petrović ("Bournemouth", England), Dragan Rosić ("Vojvodina" Novi Sad), Lazar Kaličanin ("Čukaricki" Belgrade);

Defenders - Nikola Milenkovic ("Nottingham Forest", England), Strahinja Pavlović ("AC Milan", Italy), Miloš Veljković ("Crvena Zvezda" Belgrade), Stahinja Erakovic ("Zenit" St. Petersburg, Russia), Aleks Terzić ("Salzburg", Austria), Srdjan Babić ("Spartak" Moscow, Russia), Kosta Nedeljković ("Leipzig", Germany), Jan Karlo Simić ("Anderlecht", Belgium), Nemanja Strojić ("Maccabi Tel Aviv", Israel);

Midfielders - Nemanja Gudel ("Sevilla", Spain), Filip Kostic ("Juventus" Turin, Italy), Saša Lukic ("Fulham" London, England), Nemanja Maksimovic ("Shabab Al Ahli" Dubai, UAE), Andrija Živkovic (PAOK Thessaloniki, Greece), Ivan Ilic ("Torino", Italy), Lazar Samardžić ("Atalanta" Bergamo, Italy), Uroš Racic ("Aris" Thessaloniki, Greece), Veljko Birmančević ("Sparta" Prague, Czech Republic), Aleksandar Kataj ("Crvena Zvezda" Belgrade), Stefan Mitrović ("Verona", Italy), Ognjen Ugresic ("Partizan" Belgrade);