64 teams split evenly into two tiers — 32 in A Division, 32 in B Division — determined by allocating slots to each confederation, plus a 5-team Intercontinental Playoff for the remaining spots.
Phase 1 — Qualification
Confederation candidate pools
Numbers show each team's finishing order in the simulated qualifying draw, not their confederation ranking.
A-Div guaranteed A Division slotPromotion contests the Promotion Playoff for a shot at A Division (B Division otherwise)Intercontinental no guaranteed slot — only in the field if it wins the Intercontinental Playoff, below the dashed line
Intercontinental Playoff
5 entrants → 3 slots
All 5 bubble entrants play a single round-robin pool — everyone plays all 4 others. The top 3 in the final table qualify; no confederation gets an automatic bye.
Promotion Playoff
5 groups of 3 → 5 A Division slots
The 15-team pool is seeded into 5 groups of 3. Each group plays a single round robin; the group winner is promoted to A Division. No confederation — including OFC — gets an automatic bye into the top flight.