Japan First Team to Qualify for 2026 World Cup after Bahrain Win

Reuters

21:40 JST, March 20, 2025

Japan beat Bahrain 2-0 in Saitama on Thursday to become the first team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup and extend their run of successive appearances at the finals to eight.

The 2026 tournament will be staged in the United States, Mexico and Canada, and is the first to have a field of 48 teams, up from 32 in 2022.