Eliminatórias da Copa do Mundo · History

Since the South American World Cup qualifiers switched to a single round-robin league, starting with the road to France 1998, Argentina and Brazil have each finished top four times. Argentina headed the table in 1998, 2002, 2014 and 2026, and Brazil did so in 2006, 2010, 2018 and 2022. Run by CONMEBOL, the competition decides which South American national teams reach the FIFA World Cup. It brings the confederation’s ten members together in one group, playing home and away.

From groups to a single league

Until the early 1990s, South America’s places were settled in small groups of uneven strength, with few matches per team. That changed in the 1998 cycle. Between 24 April 1996 and 16 November 1997, nine teams played each other home and away. Brazil, world champions in 1994, had qualified automatically and did not take part. From the next edition, which kicked off on 28 March 2000, all ten teams have played 18 matchdays, and the format has stayed the same since. Brazil’s only other absence came in the 2014 cycle. As World Cup hosts they were exempt, so the competition again had nine entrants.

Argentina and Brazil at the top

The first round-robin table ended in 1997 with Argentina in first place on 30 points. In the following cycle Argentina collected 43 points, 12 clear of second-placed Ecuador on 31, while Brazil finished third on 30. In 2005 Brazil and Argentina finished level on 34 points and could not be separated on head-to-head results either. Brazil took first place on goal difference, +18 to +12. Brazil topped the table again in 2009 with 34 points. Argentina returned to first in 2013 with 32, in a cycle without Brazil. Two Brazilian campaigns followed: 41 points in 2017 and 45 points in 2022, from 14 wins, three draws and no defeats in 17 games. Argentina, second in that cycle with 39 points, also went unbeaten. Their meeting in São Paulo on 5 September 2021 was suspended after five minutes, when Brazilian health officials walked onto the pitch over COVID-19 quarantine rules. The replay, scheduled for September 2022, was cancelled because both teams had already qualified.

The inter-confederation play-off

In the single-league era, the fifth-placed team began contesting a play-off against a side from another confederation in the 2002 cycle. Uruguay finished fifth four times in a row. In November 2001 they lost the first leg 1-0 to Australia in Melbourne, then won the return 3-0 in Montevideo. In 2005 the same opponents turned the tables: 1-1 on aggregate and a 4-2 Australian win on penalties. Uruguay got past Costa Rica in 2009, winning 1-0 away and drawing 1-1 at the Centenario. They beat Jordan in 2013, 5-0 in Amman and 0-0 in Montevideo. Peru finished fifth in 2017 and, after beating New Zealand, reached their first World Cup since 1982. In June 2022, Peru lost to Australia on penalties in a one-off match played in Qatar.

Top scorers by cycle

Chile’s Iván Zamorano was top scorer in the first round-robin edition with 12 goals. In 2002 Argentina’s Hernán Crespo and Ecuador’s Agustín Delgado shared the honour with nine apiece. Ronaldo scored ten for Brazil in the 2006 cycle, the same tally as Chile’s Humberto Suazo in 2010. Luis Suárez struck 11 times for Uruguay in the 2014 qualifiers, and his teammate Edinson Cavani reached ten in the 2018 campaign. Bolivia’s Marcelo Moreno led the 2022 scoring chart with ten. In the 2026 cycle Lionel Messi finished top with eight.

The 2026 cycle and the 48-team World Cup

With the World Cup expanded to 48 teams, South America was given six direct places and one play-off slot. The cycle began on 7 September 2023 and ended on 9 September 2025, producing 183 goals in 90 matches. Ecuador started on minus three points, a sanction for using false documents for Byron Castillo in the previous qualifiers, yet still finished second with 29. Argentina, world champions in 2022, came first with 38 points, nine more than Ecuador. Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay completed the qualifying places, all on 28 points. Brazil’s fifth place was their lowest finish since the league format was introduced. Venezuela, eighth with 18 points, remained the only CONMEBOL member never to have played at a World Cup. Bolivia finished seventh with 20 points and went into the inter-confederation play-offs. They lost the final 2-1 to Iraq on 31 March 2026 in Monterrey.