WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 05: U.S. President Donald Trump, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney participate in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw with at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts December 05, 2025 in Washington, DC. The 2026 FIFA World Cup will take place between June 11 and July 19 featuring 48 teams with matches being played in the United States, Mexico and Canada, the first time the international sporting event will be hosted by three nations. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images).
FIFA has a useful shorthand to speed up its organisation of every recognised football federation in the world.
World Cup 2026 will feature 48 of them but there are 211 FIFA member nations in all and each one of those – and several non-members too – has a three-letter country code to serve as an abbreviated form of its name across the football industry.
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