<Li>: In 1978, the second round was another group stage which involved 8 teams qualified from the first round . </Li> <P> The number of teams participating in the final tournament was 32 . Even though the qualification process began in March 2015, the allocation of slots for each confederation was discussed by the FIFA Executive Committee on 30 May 2015 in Zürich after the FIFA Congress . It was decided that the same allocation as 2014 would be kept for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments . </P> <P> In October 2013, UEFA President Michel Platini proposed that the World Cup finals should be expanded from 32 to 40 teams starting from 2018 . The format would have been the same, but in groups of five instead of four . This was in response to FIFA President Sepp Blatter's comments that Africa and Asia deserved more spots in the World Cup finals at the expense of European and South American teams . However, FIFA general secretary Jérôme Valcke said that expansion in 2018 would be "unlikely", while Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko said that the country was "preparing on the basis that 32 teams will be taking part ." Expansion was ultimately delayed until 10 January 2017, when the FIFA Council voted unanimously to expand to 48 teams starting in the 2026 FIFA World Cup . </P> <P> While all FIFA members entered the tournament, not all competed . Zimbabwe were expelled from the competition on 12 March 2015 for their failure to pay former coach José Claudinei a severance fee and Indonesia were excluded from the qualifying competition following the suspension of their football association by FIFA on 30 May 2015 . Kuwait had a number of their qualifiers cancelled for a similar suspension that began while their campaign was underway, which eventually resulted in their elimination . Brazil were the first team to achieve qualification for the tournament following their 3--0 victory over Paraguay and Uruguay's loss to Peru on 28 March 2017 . Peru became the 32nd and final team to qualify when, 233 days after Brazil secured their place, they beat New Zealand 2--0 on aggregate in the OFC - CONMEBOL play - off . </P>

How many teams start off in world cup