~snip~
There are a few teams missing out. Russia and Italy are missing from UEFA, Chile from CONMEBOL and Nigeria from the CAF. Unfortunately world cup only have 32 slots and one or two of the best teams miss out during qualification every time. Anyway, the chances will be lower for 2026 edition, as the number of participants is going up from 32 to 48. But the increase is mostly coming from AFC and CAF, so we may still witness a few of the good teams from Europe and South America failing to qualify for the main tournament.
Yeah, there will be more countries playing in 2026, but the whole tournament will be structured in a different way.
We'll see how it goes, but I'm not sure bringing more countries is always a good thing. The World Cup is the highest level of football in the world, so there's a minimum of skill expected.
I guess bringing more countries bring more money as well, but that's another story...