Donald Trump Welcomes Cristiano Ronaldo, 42 Teams Have Qualified for the 2026 World Cup

WASHINGTON DC, WEDNESDAY – The 2026 World Cup is just around the corner. A total of 42 teams out of 48 participants have secured their tickets to compete in North America, July next year. The atmosphere of this grand football tournament has already enveloped President of the United States Donald Trump.

As three qualifying groups for the 2026 World Cup in the CONCACAF zone were playing their final matches to determine the three teams that would qualify directly for the main round, on Tuesday (18/11/2025) evening local time or Wednesday (18/11/2025) morning WIB, President Trump was also welcoming one of the world's best footballers, Cristiano Ronaldo, at the White House, Washington DC, USA.

Ronaldo was one of the honored guests at the meeting between Trump and Saudi Arabian Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The captain of the Portuguese national team attended the dinner along with his partner, Georgina Rodriguez.

Ronaldo's presence has also received full approval from Trump. Thus, the 40-year-old player is not merely present as part of the Saudi government delegation led by Mohammed bin Salman.

This was demonstrated by Trump's remarks before the dinner took place. Specifically, Trump mentioned Ronaldo, who will be participating in his sixth World Cup next year.

"You (Ronaldo) know, my son is a huge fan of yours," said Trump, referring to his football-obsessed son, Barron Trump (19). Barron was also present in the room.

"I think he (Barron) will respect his father more from now on, because I can introduce him to you (Ronaldo). I am grateful for your presence; it is an honor," Trump continued, which was met with laughter from the audience, including Ronaldo.

In addition to Ronaldo, the football figure who participated in the dinner reception was FIFA President Gianni Infantino. This was Infantino's opportunity to be at the White House for two consecutive days.

On Monday (17/11/2025) evening US time or Tuesday morning WIB, Infantino along with FIFA staff held a coordination meeting with the 2026 World Cup Task Force established by Trump at the White House.

In this agenda, the US Government launched the FIFA Pass for ticket holders of the 2026 World Cup matches. With the ticket, individuals can receive priority in processing their US visa.

On the other hand, Infantino also reaffirmed Trump's presence at the draw for the group stage of the 2026 World Cup, Friday (5/12/2025) local time or Saturday (6/11/2025) WIB. The draw will be held at the John F Kennedy Center, Washington DC.

Two weeks ahead of the prestigious draw, a total of 42 teams have secured their spots in the 2026 World Cup. FIFA has also placed these teams into four different pots according to the latest FIFA rankings released on Wednesday (19/11/2025).

Nine teams with the highest FIFA rankings, along with three host teams, are included in the seeded pot, which is the first pot. Portugal is one of the 12 teams in the first pot.

Unlike previous editions, Portugal is highly ambitious in pursuing the 2026 World Cup. One of the reasons is that the 2026 World Cup will be Ronaldo's final participation.

Portuguese midfielder, Bernardo Silva, acknowledged that his team has a great ambition to give their all in order to present the most prestigious trophy to their idol and the greatest living legend of Portuguese football.

"We'll try to win next year's tournament (World Cup). We feel like we're better prepared than we were in the previous tournament. Hopefully, luck will be on our side," Silva said in a podcast airing on Amazon Prime Video.

Portugal's potential opponents, along with several other favorites such as Spain, Argentina, France, Brazil, and England, are dark horse teams in the second pot. In this pot, there are teams that have made significant progress over the past four years, such as Morocco, Colombia, Japan, Iran, Ecuador, and South Korea.

In addition, teams with a good tradition of qualifying for the World Cup also want to avoid a team in the third pot, namely Norway. Erling Haaland and his teammates will participate in their first World Cup since 1998. Their perfect performance and status as the highest-scoring team in the European qualifying rounds serve as a warning signal from the Scandinavian team.

Meanwhile, the last three teams that completed the 42 direct qualifiers are representatives from CONCACAF. They are Panama, Haiti, and Curacao. Notably, Curacao is one of four debutant teams in the 2026 World Cup.

Curacao follows the historic achievements previously recorded by Uzbekistan and Jordan from Asia. Then, Cape Verde emerges as a new power in Africa. Curacao secured a place in the 2026 World Cup after holding Jamaica to a 0-0 draw at the Independence Park Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica.

Curacao is the smallest country in terms of land area and the least populated that participates in the World Cup. The island nation has an area of only 444 square kilometers, which is still smaller than the total area of DKI Jakarta (660 square kilometers).

The population of Curacao is only about 150,000 people. With that population size, the people of Curacao could be gathered at one time in the stands of the Jakarta International Stadium (JIS) and the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium.

"This achievement was written for us. I can't breathe and I can't do anything else," winger Kenjo Gorre, who broke down in tears celebrating qualifying for the world stage, told Dutch media outlet Omroep West.

Curaçao is in pot four with Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Haiti, and New Zealand. The final pot will also feature the four UEFA playoff winners and two teams that qualified through the intercontinental playoffs.

The matches in the two playoff zones will be determined by a draw to be held at FIFA Headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, on Thursday (November 20, 2025). For the interconfederation playoffs, Iraq (Asia) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Africa) have already secured their places in the final.

They are just waiting for the opponents who will compete in the semifinals. The competing candidates for the two teams are Jamaica, Bolivia, Suriname, or New Caledonia. (AFP)