The Perfectionists, the Invincibles, and the best teams of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers
The long road to the 2026 FIFA World Cup has produced its own tapestry of dominance, resilience, and defensive steel, shaping a qualifying cycle defined by perfection and invincibility.
While the journey has come to an end for many of the teams, with some already secured their ticket to the global showpiece, while some have been condemned to the fate of watching from their sofas, a few more remain in the quest as the playoff looms.
From Africa to Europe, Asia to the Americas, a select group of nations navigated their paths without blemish, standing apart as the standard-setters of this global journey.
Some marched through every fixture without dropping a point, others survived the long haul without tasting defeat, while a rare few built their success on impenetrable defensive records that underlined their discipline and organisation.
These qualifiers did more than confirm tickets to the United States, Mexico, and Canada, they offered a clearer picture of the teams evolving into genuine contenders on football’s biggest stage.
What follows is a breakdown of the perfect teams, the invincibles, and the unmatched defensive walls that defined the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
The Perfectionists, the Invincibles, and the best teams of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers
The Perfectionists
Across all the confederations, some national teams work all of their qualifying games, categorizing themselves as the perfect teams due to their perfect record.
CAF
Morocco, who became the first-ever African team to reach the FIFA World Cup semi-finals in the last edition, continued their impeccable run in the qualifiers and emerged as the only African team with a perfect record.
The Atlas Lions played eight games due to Eritrea’s withdrawal, and won all eight, completing the double over the other four nations in Group E of the CAF World Cup qualifiers. Niger, Zambia, Tanzania, and Congo are their victims.
UEFA
Morocco are joined by European duo of England, and Norway, as the only three teams with perfect records during the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The Europeans also conquered all teams in their respective groups in a combined 16 games, with Norway in particular doing the most, having completed the double over Italy, who was the group favorite and 20 places better in the current FIFA ranking.
England’s biggest threat in Group I was Serbia, but the Three Lions broke no sweat to overcome them, winning both fixtures by an aggregate of 7-0. Ironically, the least-ranked Andorra gave them their toughest tests, but they still did enough to secure 1-0 and 2-0 wins.
CONCACAF
Panama, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Curacao were incredible in the first group phase of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers, even though many of them have fallen in the longer route journey to achieving the ticket.
Each of these nations won all of their respective four games in the early group round, before progressing to the final group phase, where only the teams that finished are assured a World Cup ticket.
AFC
Japan, Iraq, and Australia also enjoyed a perfect run in the AFC qualifiers, before progressing to the third round, where they all dropped points, and even lost games.
Japan won all six games in the initial group stage, where they were up against North Korea, Syria, and Myanmar, while Iraq got the better of Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Australia beat Palestine, Lebanon, and Bangladesh.
OFC
New Zealand took the only automatic slot available for Oceania by beating all the teams in their way. The All Whites beat Tahiti, Vanuatu and Samoa in the group phase, before ousting Fiji and New Caledonia in the semi-final and final of the playoff respectively.
The Invincibles
Joining the above above in the invincibles category are several teams, mainly from Africa and Europe, who completed the FIFA World Cup qualifiers with unbeaten records.
CAF
In Africa, Egypt was unbeaten in 10 games, winning eight and drawing two on their way to finishing with 26 points, five more than second-place Burkina Faso, whose only defeat also came against the Pharaohs.
With seven wins and three draws, Senegal is another nation with an invincible record during the qualifiers. Despite trailing 2-0 in the Congo DR, they fought back to win the decisive game and ensured an unbeaten record was preserved.
The Elephants of the Ivory Coast really needed to be at the top of their game throughout due to Gabon breathing down their neck. In the end, eight wins and two draws were enough for the World Cup ticket, although they finished just a point behind the Panthers.
Tunisia won more points than any other nation in the CAF World Cup qualifiers, with 28, after winning nine and drawing one of ten games, benefiting from more games than Morocco to become the standout nation.
A 0-0 draw against second-place Namibia in round 4 denied them a perfect record, but the Eagles of Carthage still finished 13 points above their closest rival in Group H.
UEFA
With England and Norway already commended for their perfect run, joining them on the list of invincible teams are Spain, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Croatia.
European champions Spain almost competed the qualifiers with a perfect record, but let their guard down after being almost certain of a place in the next summer’s showpiece before kickoff of their final game at home to Turkiye, which finished 2-2.
They had completed the double over Georgia, and Bulgaria to win all possible 15 points and had not let in a goal before their final game against Turkiye, but they lost both as the visitors stood their grounds to share spoils.
The Swiss were dominant in Group B and won their opening three games to give themselves the upper hand, and completed the second round unbeaten, drawing two to amass 14 points, three more than second place Kosovo.
A 2-2 draw with Iceland in Reykjavik in the second match of the October international break denied Didier Deschamps’ France a perfect qualifying campaign, although the team was heavily altered, especially in attack. They won five other games and finished six points ahead of Ukraine.
Although they could not overcome Poland in any of their two meetings, the Netherlands were otherwise dominant in Group G, where they won six other games, beating all of Finland, Malta, and Lithuania twice each.
Belgium beat everyone but North Macedonia in Group J. Although they were completely dominant in the two fixtures, they couldn’t find much joy in attack, and finished the campaign with seven wins, and one more draw against Kazakhstan to make three.
Croatia dropped points once in eight games, a goalless draw with Czechia in the first game of October, where they couldn’t convert any of their 3-0 big chances. They won all their other games and finished with 22 points, six more than their closest rival.
CONCACAF
Of all the five nations with perfect records in the first group phase of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers, only two, Panama and Curacao, made it to the finals with an unbeaten record.
The two teams shared a similar result pattern in their respective groups, winning and drawing as many as six games to finish top of their groups and land World Cup tickets.
AFC
The United Arab Emirates, Iran, South Korea, and Qatar joined the trio of Japan, Iraq, and Australia as the invincibles in the AFC qualifiers after also avoiding defeats in their respective groups.
The UAE had one draw and five wins; a similar pattern of results was shared by the others, except Iran, which had one more draw and one less win.
OFC
Although lost to New Zealand in the playoff final and now have to complete in the confederations playoff, New Caledonia were also unbeaten in the regular group games, amassing seven points out of nine at the expense of Fiji, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.
The unbreakable defence
During the regular qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, England, Ivory Coast, and Tunisia completed the process without picking the ball in the back of their nets after a legitimate opponent’s goal.
Three Lions kept eight clean sheets while their African counterparts kept 10 each due to the two extra games for CAF teams, highlighting their respective strengths in defence.
Japan, and Australia also kept clean sheets in all of their respective six games in the first group stage of the AFC World Cup qualifiers, before progressing to the final group phase, where they were later broken.
No room for South America teams and understandable due to the league format, which makes it a more complex tournament, and requiring up to 18 games for each of the teams.
Kehinde-Hassan Afolabi
