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Three countries barred from the 2026 World Cup will miss the tournament for different reasons.
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Russia is banned for invading Ukraine, while Congo and Pakistan face governance suspensions.
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Both Congo and Pakistan also finished last in their qualifiers.
Three countries barred from the 2026 World Cup will miss the tournament for different reasons, and their absences already affect qualifying.
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First, FIFA and UEFA maintained Russia’s ban following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
As a result, the Russian Football Union, plus its men’s and women’s teams and clubs cannot enter major tournaments.
Consequently, Russia did not appear in UEFA’s December qualification draw.
Additionally, FIFA suspended Congo’s federation, FECOFOOT, after joint FIFA–CAF missions uncovered “a particularly serious situation of undue interference by third parties.” FIFA says it will lift the ban only after FECOFOOT restores control of its operations, reverses attempts to change bank signatories, allows an ad hoc committee to work, and ends outside interference.
FIFA also suspended Pakistan after the federation failed to adopt a revised constitution designed to enable “truly fair and democratic elections.” FIFA will keep the suspension until the PFF congress approves the constitution written with FIFA and the AFC.
Both federations already struggled in qualifying: Congo sit bottom of Group E in Africa, while Pakistan sit last in Group G in Asia.
