FIFA World Cup 2026: Can Asian champions Qatar reach the knockouts?

Previous World Cup appearances: One
Best performance: Group signifier (2022)
First appearance: 2022 (Qatar)
Top extremity scorer: Mohammed Muntari (1)
Most appearances: Abdelkarim Hassan, Boualem Khoukhi, Akram Afif (3 each)
Player to watch: Almoez Ali
FIFA satellite ranking: 55

Four years connected from their FIFA World Cup debut connected location soil, Qatar are gearing up for a caller “dream”.

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The reigning – and back-to-back – Asian champions caput to the June 11-July 19 shot tourney successful North America, having qualified outright for the archetypal clip successful the Arab nation’s history.

Making their mode to the showpiece aft 3 palmy rounds of qualifiers, the Qataris find themselves successful an interesting, and perchance inviting, Group B, facing Switzerland, Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The imaginable of reaching the knockout stages for the archetypal clip appears a realistic target.

The task for the team, according to manager Julen Lopetegui successful an exclusive interrogation with Al Jazeera, is to instrumentality the unit disconnected – but not astatine the outgo of “ambition”.

Al Jazeera breaks down Qatar’s chances successful North America:

How bash Qatar’s World Cup opponents rank?

In Switzerland and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Qatar look 2 beardown teams from Europe. Switzerland are making their 13th quality astatine the finals, having reached the knockouts successful each of their past 3 campaigns.

The 19th-ranked Swiss, whose champion decorativeness has been the quarterfinals connected 3 occasions, are frontrunners to decorativeness arsenic array toppers of Group B.

At fig 65 successful the FIFA rankings, Bosnia and Herzegovina are placed little than Qatar, but it would beryllium foolish to constitute them disconnected based connected that alone. Returning to the World Cup for the archetypal clip successful 12 years, Bosnia and Herzegovina pulled disconnected 1 of the biggest upsets of the qualifiers erstwhile they knocked retired four-time satellite champions Italy connected penalties.

Qatar tin expect a pugnacious situation from some European teams, but the two-time Asian champions could instrumentality a constituent oregon 3 against Canada, the fig 30 squad successful the satellite and the co-hosts of the tournament, alongside the United States and Mexico.

Like Qatar, Canada were besides winless successful their 2022 World Cup campaign, arsenic good arsenic successful 2018. Making their 3rd quality astatine the finals, the Canadians, too, person yet to scope the knockouts.

Canada enactment connected a mixed show successful their pre-World Cup friendlies, winning 2 and drafting two.

No pressure, arsenic Lopetegui urges Qatar to bask the moment

Talking to Al Jazeera up of the tournament, Qatar’s Spanish manager Lopetegui said the squad achieved a “big goal” by qualifying for the 48-team World Cup connected merit.

While the accomplishment is momentous for each of Qatar, it besides holds peculiar value for Lopetegui, who is heading to his archetypal World Cup arsenic a coach.

Lopetegui was denied the accidental to pb Spain astatine the 2018 World Cup, contempt an awesome qualification, owed to his country’s fury astatine the announcement of his upcoming relation astatine Real Madrid lone days earlier Spain’s archetypal lucifer astatine the event.

This year’s tournament, arsenic a result, volition yet manus the 59-year-old the accidental helium has agelong waited for.

“We are preparing for this adjacent large challenge, which is to effort to beryllium competitory successful the adjacent measurement of our dream,” Lopetegui told Al Jazeera.

“The happening that we cannot consciousness is pressure. We person to bask due to the fact that we won the close to beryllium determination [at the World Cup].

“The mode I recognize it, you tin bask amended [by] being competitive. The connection unit – it’s not successful our language.”

Qatar’s Spanish manager Julen Lopetegui took complaint a twelvemonth agone [Ibraheem Al Omari/Reuters]

Lopetegui, who took implicit successful May 2025, admitted that portion Qatar are weaker than their opponents, determination is nary shortage of ambition among his players.

“Each infinitesimal that you person astatine the World Cup is top,” helium added.

“So successful this case, you analyse each country, talking astir each subordinate and which contention they are playing… you’re playing against the champion players successful the world. Now, we person to beryllium acceptable and hole ourselves to beryllium competitive.

“For sure, we volition beryllium playing against teams amended than us; we person to judge this. But, to judge that is not to [say] that we don’t person the ambition to beryllium competitory oregon to triumph there. They’re antithetic things.”

Who are Qatar’s champion players?

If Qatar are to crush Canadian hopes successful Vancouver, the Gulf state volition person to trust connected the goal-scoring prowess of striker Almoez Ali, Qatar’s all-time marksman with 60 goals, and prima winger Akram Afif, the two-time Asian subordinate of the twelvemonth and the team’s main root of creativity.

Having played each infinitesimal of Qatar’s past World Cup campaign, Afif shares the grounds for astir appearances astatine the tourney (three) alongside defenders Boualem Khoukhi and Abdelkarim Hassan.

Captain Hassan Al-Haydos, who came retired of status successful June 2025 astatine Lopetegui’s request, is different instrumentality favourite and holds the grounds of being Qatar’s most-capped subordinate with 188 appearances.

A favourable radical and back-to-back Asian Cup titles person raised expectations [Ibraheem Al Omari/Reuters]

Qatar’s squad remains built astir a domestically developed halfway shaped done the Aspire Academy strategy that underpinned their emergence implicit the past decade.

Many of the squad person progressed done the aforesaid improvement pathway, giving Qatar continuity and ⁠cohesion, though questions stay implicit whether a radical drawn mostly ⁠from the home league has the extent and acquisition required to vie consistently with elite opposition.

Qatar’s World Cup 2026 schedule

All times successful section time

• June 13, 12pm PDT (19:00 GMT) – Qatar vs Switzerland – Santa Clara, California (US)
• June 18, 4pm PDT(23:00 GMT) – Canada vs Qatar – Vancouver (Canada)
• June 24, 12pm PDT (19:00 GMT) – Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Qatar – Inglewood, California (US)

Qatar fans saw their broadside play astatine a World Cup for the archetypal clip erstwhile hosting the shot tourney successful 2022  [File: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters]

Al Jazeera’s prediction

Qatar person a chance, adjacent if it is simply a slim one, of reaching the knockouts.

Their champion stake for collecting points is against Canada. Should Qatar bushed Canada, they volition person 3 points, which should beryllium capable to suffice for the circular of 32 arsenic 1 of the 8 champion third-placed teams.

If Qatar gully each 3 games – which is little apt than the supra script – adjacent that could spot them done to the knockouts for the archetypal clip successful history.

Simply put, the crippled against Canada is simply a must-win for Qatar if they imagination of a heavy run.

Qatar’s World Cup squad

Goalkeepers: Salah Zakaria, Meshaal Barsham, Mahmud Abunada

Defenders: Boualem Khoukhi, Pedro Miguel, Sultan Al-Brake, Al-Hashmi Al-Hussain, Ayoub Al-Oui, Issa Laye, Lucas Mendes, Homam Al-Amin

Midfielders: Ahmed Fathi, Jassim Gaber, Assim Madibo, Abdulaziz Hatem, Karim Boudiaf, Mohamed Al-Mannai

Forwards: Almoez Ali, Akram Afif, Tahsin Mohammed Jamshid, Edmilson Junior, Ahmed Al-Ganehi, Ahmed Alaaeldin, Hassan Al-Haydos, Mohammed Muntari, Yusuf Abdurisag

The FIFA World Cup begins connected June 11. You tin travel the enactment connected Al Jazeera’s dedicated World Cup 2026 page with each the latest news, lucifer build-up and unrecorded substance commentary, and support up to day with radical standings, real-time lucifer results and schedules.