Russia is the main country excluded from the 2026 World Cup. Russian national teams were suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions after the invasion of Ukraine, so Russia did not take part in the European qualifiers.
That is different from a team simply failing to qualify. Most countries that are not at the 2026 World Cup were not banned. They played qualifiers and lost, finished too low in their group, or were knocked out in playoffs.
Eritrea is another special case. It did not play the qualifiers because it withdrew before the African qualifying competition. That means Eritrea was not banned in the same way as Russia, but it also could not qualify for the tournament.
Some famous football countries are also missing because they were eliminated. Italy is one of the biggest names not going to the 2026 World Cup. Other teams missed out through normal qualifying results, not because FIFA excluded them.
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