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Are Venezuela Playing at the 2026 World Cup?

A geopolitical dispute involving the U.S. has dominated world headlines.
Barnaby Lane|
Josef Martínez is one of Venezuela’s star players.
Josef Martínez is one of Venezuela’s star players. | Getty/AFP

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, being held across the United States, Canada and Mexico, kicks off on June 11 with a record 48 teams competing—the biggest edition in the tournament’s history.

Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan and Uzbekistan have benefitted from the expanded pool of countries able to participate, and they will make their World Cup debuts after coming through their respective qualifying pools.

But the story on many people’s lips, however, is not sport but geopolitics: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. forces in a military raid in early January 2026 and flown to the U.S. to face federal charges including narco-terrorism and cocaine-trafficking related offenses.

Maduro has strongly denied the claims, describing himself as a “prisoner of war”—a phrase he used in court to reject his detention—and previously called such charges a tool to further “imperial” plans for U.S. President Donald Trump to get access to Venezuela’s oil reserves.  

With such unrest underway, soccer fans around the world are not only wondering how the situation will play out, but also whether Venezuela’s national soccer team has qualified for the 2026 World Cup—which would add a quite extraordinary backdrop to the tournament’s drama.  

Have Venezuela Qualified for the 2026 World Cup?

Venezuela
Venezuela has not qualified for the 2026 World Cup. | Getty/Alejandro Teran/Eurasia Sport Images

The short answer is no, Venezuela have not qualified for the 2026 World Cup.

La Vinotinto finished eighth in the CONMEBOL qualifying table, missing out on both the automatic qualification places and the intercontinental playoff spot.

They won just four of their 18 matches, with a heavy 6–3 defeat to neighbors Colombia on the final matchday sealing their fate and extending their long-standing record as the only South American nation never to appear at a men’s World Cup—even with the expanded 48-team format offering additional slots.

A day after the loss to Colombia in September, head coach Fernando Batista and his entire backroom staff were dismissed, reportedly at the order of President Maduro, who demanded a full restructuring of the national team setup following what he described as a “painful defeat.”

The USMNT will participate as hosts, having not needed to go through the qualifying process—a luxury that was also afforded to Canada and Mexico.

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Barnaby Lane
BARNABY LANE

Barnaby Lane, better known as Barney, is a soccer writer for SI FC. With nearly a decade of experience in the industry, he has worked for a range of household-name publications in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and has interviewed some of the world’s biggest athletes—from Usain Bolt and Rafael Nadal to Christian Pulisic (though his favorite interview remains Adebayo Akinfenwa). Barney specializes in Premier League soccer, covering everything from the nostalgia of years gone by to the modern, vastly different landscape of today’s game. He also has experience reporting on La Liga and Major League Soccer, the latter of which he developed a particular affinity for during his university days at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

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