World Cup Qualifiers: 21 teams have secured tickets to the 2026 World Cup, and Cristiano Ronaldo is named the top scorer in history

On October 13, after the African powerhouse Ghana defeated the Comoros 1-0, 21 national teams around the world have confirmed to advance to the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico Men’s Football World Cup finals. These include three hosts, the United States, Canada, and Mexico; direct teams include Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil, and Paraguay from South America; Japan, South Korea, Australia, Iran, Uzbekistan, and Jordan from Asia; Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, and Ghana from Africa; New Zealand from Oceania; Bolivia from the Americas, and New Caledonia from Oceania, which advanced through the intercontinental play-offs. Due to the late start time of the European qualifiers, no qualifying team has yet been produced.

Ghana advances to the World Cup

It is worth mentioning that among the 21 teams that have won World Cup tickets, Uzbekistan and Jordan have qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time. They are the biggest beneficiaries of the expansion of the 2026 World Cup finals to 48 teams.

Uzbekistan has entered the World Cup for the first time in 34 years of independence.

On the historical scorer list of the World Cup preliminaries, Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been in hot form in recent years, and Carlos Ruiz from Guatemala top the list with a record of 39 goals. Followed closely by Messi, who has scored 36 goals so far. Ranked fourth is Ali Daei from Iran, who scored 35 goals. Lewandowski from Poland ranks fifth with 32 goals. In addition, Suarez (Uruguay), Dzeko (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Azmoun (Iran), Chris Wood (New Zealand) and others tied for sixth with 29 goals.

Top scorer in the World Cup preliminaries: Cristiano Ronaldo!

However, it is a pity that in Portugal's match against Ireland on October 12, Ronaldo's penalty kick was saved and failed to score. Otherwise, he would surpass Carlos Ruiz and exclusively occupy the throne of the top scorer in the history of the World Preliminaries.