<P> Two of the teams will be seeded based on the FIFA World Rankings, and the seeded teams will play for a FIFA World Cup berth against the winners of the first two knockout games involving the four unseeded teams . </P> <P> The tournament is to be played in the host country (ies) and to be used as a test event for the FIFA World Cup . The existing playoff window of November 2025 has been suggested as a tentative date for the 2026 edition . </P> <P> The FIFA Council went back and forth between 2013 and 2017 on limitations within hosting rotation based on the continental confederations . Originally, it was set that bids to be host would not be allowed from countries belonging to confederations that hosted the two preceding tournaments . It was temporarily changed to only prohibit countries belonging to the confederation that hosted the previous World Cup from bidding to host the following tournament, before the rule was changed back to its prior state of two World Cups . However, the FIFA Council did make an exception to potentially grant eligibility to member associations of the confederation of the second - to - last host of the FIFA World Cup in the event that none of the received bids fulfill the strict technical and financial requirements . In March 2017, FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirmed that "Europe (UEFA) and Asia (AFC) are excluded from the bidding following the selection of Russia and Qatar in 2018 and 2022 respectively ." Therefore, the 2026 World Cup could be hosted by one of the remaining four confederations: CONCACAF (North America; last hosted in 1994), CAF (Africa; last hosted in 2010), CONMEBOL (South America; last hosted in 2014), or OFC (Oceania, never hosted before), or potentially by UEFA in case no bid from those four met the requirements . </P> <P> Co-hosting the FIFA World Cup--which had been banned by FIFA after the 2002 World Cup--was approved for the 2026 World Cup, though not limited to a specific number but instead evaluated on a case - by - case basis . Also by 2026, the FIFA general secretariat, after consultation with the Competitions Committee, will have the power to exclude bidders who do not meet the minimum technical requirements to host the competition . </P>

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