Curacao – the island whose entire population can fit into the Narendra Modi Stadium and Eden Gardens and still leave some 20,000 seats vacant – became the smallest ever nation to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.Haiti, ravaged by conflict and famine, ended their 52-year wait to make the cut for the biggest single-sport event on the planet, without any of the players or the coach setting foot on home soil.Uzbekistan has tried and failed to qualify for the World Cup seven times since its independence, following the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. They came painfully close for Germany 2006 and Brazil 2014 editions. This time, finally, they crossed the line.The 48-team World Cup was initially dismissed as an excess that would drain the tournament of jeopardy. But even if that fear lingers for next summer, qualifying has already produced a surge of Cinderella stories the 32-team era seldom allowed.Four nations – Uzbekistan, Jordan, Cape Verde and Curacao – will make their World Cup debuts next year and that number could rise by the time the qualification race ends in March 2026. Haiti will return to the big stage for the first time since 1974; Austria, Norway and Scotland will be back after last appearing in 1998; while South Africa and Qatar made it this far for the first time via the qualifications – they have previously played on the virtue of being hosts.Nowhere is the expanded World Cup’s wider footprint more evident than across the host continent.In the previous iterations, the North, Central America and Caribbean nations got just three qualifying spots. Two of those were invariably gobbled up by the US and Mexico, with one of the Caribbean nations usually snapping up the third.Story continues below this adFor 2026, the region’s quota was doubled. And with the co-hosts – the USA, Mexico and Canada – getting automatic places, it opened the doors for other countries in the region. Like Haiti.The Caribbean nation relied heavily on its diaspora players – a majority of them are born and based in Europe – to stitch a scarcely-believable campaign. According to the BBC, ‘armed gangs have taken control of almost all of the nation’s capital Port-au-Prince in a conflict that has forced some 1.3m people from their homes and fuelled famine-level hunger’ following the devastating earthquakes of 2010. Haiti’s coach Sebastien Migne, like most of his players, never visited the country and managed all his operations remotely.Haiti played all their home matches approximately 500 miles away in Curacao, who scripted a miraculous story of their own.The island — home to 156,000 people and roughly three-quarters the size of Mumbai — became a country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2010, following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles. A decade ago, they were ranked 150th in the world; today, they have climbed to 82nd. Undefeated through qualifying, they secured their spot with a goalless draw in Jamaica.How Asia benefittedStory continues below this adThe other big beneficiary of the expanded World Cup was Asia. The continent’s quota was doubled from 4 (or 5, if the inter-continental playoff berth is considered) to 8. This gave teams who earlier came close but never could get the job done a better chance to qualify. And the opportunity was lapped up by Uzbekistan and Jordan.While the usual suspects – Iran, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Qatar – easily qualified, the Uzbeks and Jordanians added drama to the Asian race.Uzbekistan, in particular, were rewarded for their years of toil, taking the patient and laborious route by investing heavily in youth football rather than on diaspora players. Having reached the quarterfinals of the U-17 World Cup, the last-16 of the U-20 World Cup and the Paris Olympics, an U-23 event, they are finally making an impact on the senior level.Eyes on New CaledoniaOceania never had a direct qualifying quota before. The best-performing team in the regional qualifiers would play against an Asian side in the play-off, with the winner qualifying for the World Cup.For 2026, Oceania was allocated a single direct spot, which New Zealand claimed. That left the door open for New Caledonia, a French overseas territory only recognised by FIFA in 2004. They will compete in March’s intercontinental playoffs, featuring six teams from five confederations. A victory there could add yet another fairytale chapter to the 2026 World Cup.