Conmebol revealed the South American path to reach the 2026 World Cup in Mexico, the United States and Canada.
The Colombian selection He is starting a new path after the resounding failure in the South American qualifiers, where he could not stay in the direct qualifying positions and was eventually excluded from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
This led to the departure of Reinaldo Rueda as coach of the Tricolor and that with the arrival of Néstor Lorenzo in his replacement, he will try to improve substantially for the cycle to the 2026 World Cup. In the meantime, the team will continue to play some friendly matches .
Below is an overview of the full calendar of the national team in all competitions.
FRIENDLY HIGH SCHOOLS
With the certainty of not being able to qualify for the next World Cup and with the official appointment of Néstor Lorenzo as the new technical director, Colombia held a friendly against Saudi Arabia on the FIFA date in June.
With Héctor Cárdenas at the head of the team and a team that was looking for innovation, but also new variants for the team, the Tricolor won 1-0 through a goal from Rafael Santos Borré in Murcia, Spain.
Then came Lorenzo’s long-awaited debut at the helm of the team, with a double against Guatemala and Mexico, in the United States, which ended with 4-1 and 3-2 wins respectively to start the process on the right track, despite the fact that that there were still things to do.
Colombia ended 2023 with a great 2-0 win against Paraguay in Fort Lauderdale and opened 2023 with a goalless draw against the United States, in California, to build on Lorenzo’s trial
Now the Federation has managed to specify two new friendlies, both for March, on Asian territory against teams from that continent. The tricolor faced South Korea on 24 March in Ulsan with a final result of 2–2, goals from James and Carrascal, after trailing 0–2 in the first half. The second friendly match in Asia is against Japan on Tuesday, March 28 in Osaka at 05:20 in Colombia.
2026 UNITED STATES, MEXICO AND CANADA QUALIFICATIONS
The South American Confederation has confirmed that the same format and competition of the Qatar 2022 Qualifiers will be maintained for this cycle which will begin on the way to the 2016 World Cup.
Just like three years ago, the Tricolor will start at home against Venezuela in September 2023 and will end against Vinotinto two years later, in September 2025.
There are a total of 18 dates, distributed as follows, to determine the six direct quotas and one for the World Cup play-offs:
- 2023: 2 dates in September, 2 in October and 2 in November.
- 2024: 2 dates in September, 2 in October and 2 in November.
- 2025: 2 dates in March, 2 in June and 2 in September.
Complete schedule for Colombia in the qualifications for the United States, Mexico and Canada 2026:
AMERICA’S CUP 2024
It was confirmed that the Copa América 2024 will take place in the United States between June 13 and July 14, in which, in addition to the 10 Conmebol teams, six Concacaf teams will also participate that will be defined by the League of Nations of said confederation.
Complete schedule for Colombia in the Copa América United States 2024:
To define.
Source: Goal