All the spots for FIFA World Cup 2018 have been filled, with Peru taking the final spot on Thursday. While Panama and Iceland created history by qualifying for their first-ever World Cup, football power Italy had a heartbreak by failing to secure a spot in the Russia World Cup for the first time in 60 years.
Here are the 32 teams that have qualified for the 2018 Russia World Cup:
From Europe –
RUSSIA: Russia gets automatic qualification for being the host country. The team needs to put their best foot forward after getting knocked out in the group stage Confederations Cup.
BELGIUM: Belgium has been the first nation to get selected after they defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina and Greece in the qualifying stage.
ENGLAND: Gareth Southgate’s side booked their spot in the World Cup following a 1-0 win over Slovenia at Wembley on October 5.
GERMANY: Germany sealed qualification for World Cup with a game to spare after Joachim Löw’s side beat Northern Ireland 3-1 in Belfast in early October.
ICELAND: Iceland sealed a place in Russia with a 2-0 victory against Kosovo in Reykjavik, becoming the smallest nation ever to qualify for a World Cup finals.
POLAND: Poland secured its spot in next year’s World Cup in Russia with a 4-2 win over Montenegro in European qualifying on October 8.
SPAIN: Spain sealed their place in next year’s World Cup with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Albania on October 6.
SERBIA: Aleksandar Prijovic scored after coming on as a second-half substitute to cement Serbia’s place in Russia with a 1-0 win over Georgia.
PORTUGAL: The European champions Portugal qualified for next year’s World Cup with a convincing 2-0 win over Switzerland.
FRANCE: France qualified for next year’s World Cup finals in Russia with a 2-1 home victory over Belarus on October 10 to finish top of Group A.
SWITZERLAND: Switzerland are heading to their 11th World Cup and their fourth consecutive world finals, their best run of appearances since stringing four together between 1934-54.
CROATIA: Croatia are in the World Cup finals after a 0-0 away draw on Sunday night put them through with a 4-1 aggregate across the two legs of their qualifying play-off with Greece.
SWEDEN: Sweden battled their way to the 2018 World Cup at the expense of Italy after hammering out a 0-0 draw in the second leg of their playoff.
DENMARK: Christian Eriksen hat-trick helped Denmark secure Europe’s final qualification spot for the Russia World Cup with a 5-1 victory away to Republic of Ireland on Tuesday.
From South America –
BRAZIL: The 2014 World Cup semifinalists booked their place in the next World Cup back in March. They stand at the top of the table, after drawing 1-1 to Columbia on Tuesday.
URUGUAY: Uruguay finished second in the 10-team group behind five-time World Cup winners Brazil.
ARGENTINA: Lionel Messi hat-trick guarantteed last World Cup finalists Argentina, who came from behind, to book their World Cup spot.
COLOMBIA: Colombia, who produced their best ever performance at a World Cup in Brazil in 2014, booked a spot in next year’s tournament.
PERU: Peru beat New Zealand 2-0 to book the final World Cup 2018 spot. They last reached the World Cup in 1982.
From North, Central America and Caribbean –
MEXICO: Mexico have remained unbeaten in their qualifying round and booked their spot for the World Cup by beating Panama 1-0.
COSTA RICA: Costa Rica qualified for the 2018 World Cup finals after drawing 1-1 against Honduras in early October.
PANAMA: Panama defeated already qualified Costa Rica 2-1 to secure a place at the 2018 World Cup in Russia for the first time in the country’s history.
From Africa –
NIGERIA: Nigeria beat a stubborn Zambia 1-0 to become the first African side to seal a place at next year’s World Cup in Russia.
EGYPT: Egypt’s 27-year wait came to an end as Mohammad Salah scored a brace against Comgo to help his side qualify for World Cup.
SENEGAL: Senegal qualify for next year’s World Cupwith a 2-0 away win over South Africa that gave them an unassailable lead at the top of Group D.
MOROCCO: Morocco stunned Ivory Coast 2-0 to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. Morocco is returning to World Cup after 20 years.
TUNISIA: For Tunisia, the barren draw against Libya was enough to get them another World Cup ticket.
From Asia –
IRAN: Iran, who drew against Syria 2-2 last night, made it to their fifth yet second consecutive World Cup. They have, however, only managed one win in the tournament so far.
SOUTH KOREA: This is going to be South Korea’s ninth successive appearance at the World Cup, having qualified after winning four out of ten games.
JAPAN: Japan is going to make its sixth consecutive appearance at the World Cup
SOUDI ARABIA: Soudi Arabia will be making an appearance at the World Cup for the first time since 2006.
AUSTRALIA: Australia qualified for their fourth successive World Cup by beating a physical Honduras 3-1 at Stadium Australia in Sydney.
