​Image source, Getty Images. ByCiaran Varley. BBC Sport journalist. 55 minutes ago. ByAdwaidh Rajan. BBC Sport journalist. The final six nations have qualified for the 2026 World Cup, completing the expanded 48‑team line‑up for this summer’s tournament.. DR Congo and Iraq were the last two teams to book their places in the 23rd edition of the World Cup to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico from 11 June to 19 July.. It rounded off a marathon qualification process that began in September 2023 and spanned six confederations before culminating in the high‑stakes Uefa and intercontinental play‑offs on 31 March.. The final four European teams were confirmed on Tuesday, with the big news being that four-time winners Italy were knocked out by Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Czech Republic, Turkey and Sweden also qualified.. DR Congo and Iraq booked their place with wins over Jamaica and Bolivia respectively.. Of the 48 teams participating, the three hosts qualified automatically while 43 places were earned via direct qualification from the confederations and two spots were determined by intercontinental play-offs.. With the full cast confirmed, attention now shifts towards the biggest World Cup staged.. [embedded content]. How will the tournament work?. A record 48 nations – up from the 32 that featured in Qatar four years ago – will take part in the 2026 edition, making it the largest World Cup field, with 104 matches to be played across three countries for the first time.. It will take place in 16 cities – 11 in the US, three in Mexico and two in Canada – between 11 June and 19 July.. The tournament will also last a record 39 days – an increase from 29 days in Qatar and 32 in 2014 and 2018 – and a new format features 12 groups of four.. Mexico will face South Africa in Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca to open the tournament on Thursday, 11 June – 18 days after the conclusion of the Premier League season.. The top two teams from the 12 groups and the eight best third‑placed nations will advance into an expanded knockout phase that will begin with a round of 32.. The new world champion will be crowned at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on 19 July.. World Cup 2026 stadium guide. BBC Sport experts choose England World Cup XIs – who would you pick?. 2 days ago. When will the games be played?. With games taking place across four time zones and at locations up to 2,800 miles apart, there will be a total of 13 different kick-off times.. That means for viewers in Europe, some games will be played from midnight onwards.. For example, all five of the group-stage matches in Kansas City will take place in the middle of the night UK time, with the earliest kick-off being 00:00 BST on Friday, 26 June for Tunisia against the Netherlands while the latest is a 03:00 BST start for Algeria versus Austria on Sunday, 28 June.. The San Francisco Bay Area hosts two games that will kick off at 05:00 BST – Austria versus Jordan on Tuesday, 16 June and Turkey versus Parag  

 Welsh Labour promises NHS will see people within 48 hours in manifesto. 2 days ago. David Deans,Wales political reporterand. Mark Palmer,BBC Wales. People with a pressing medical need will be seen within 48 hours should Labour win the next Senedd election, the party’s Welsh leader has pledged.. Eluned Morgan launched her manifesto for the Senedd election on Monday morning in Swansea, claiming her party is more “serious” at running the country than her rivals.. The first minister promised not to use Welsh government powers to raise income tax levels, and to meet a target for NHS patients to be seen within 26 weeks for treatment.. Voters in Wales go to the polls on 7 May to elect 96 member to the Welsh Parliament.. Plans include a £2 cap on bus fares for adults, £4bn on more hospitals, and boosts to childcare and free school meals.. The respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank said Labour’s plans to increase spending would “almost certainly require cuts”.. Athena. Opinion polls have suggested Labour is in third place behind Plaid Cymru and Reform, which are both vying to win the election.. Morgan promised a “new deal for the NHS”, acknowledging that the Welsh public was “frustrated” with the state of the health service.. “Getting a GP appointment though can feel like a battle for some, and for many families progress just feels too slow”, she said.. She said under a Welsh Labour government, “people will be able to access a primary health care professional within 48 hours if they have a problem that really can’t wait”.. “If something doesn’t feel right, you should be able to get help quickly, not weeks later.”. She said it will “take work” to achieve the target and would mean “shifting funding and services from hospitals into the community”.. The manifesto did not say who in primary care would see an individual within 48 hours – whether that is a GP, a nurse or someone else.. Morgan told BBC Wales that GPs are party of primary care teams “but so are ophthalmologists, so are physiotherapists, so the mental health team, so there’s a huge number of people that you can go to”.. A new contract brought in by England’s NHS requires patients to be seen on the same day by their GP.. Asked why her target was lower, Morgan said: “Well, let’s see them deliver that”, adding: “I’m going to go for what I think is realistic for Wales.”. Labour’s manifesto promises to meet the 26-week waiting time target for referral to treatment.. The Welsh government has not hit the target since at least September 2011, when it changed how it counted waits.. NHS figures in March reported that hospital waiting lists had seen a record drop, with latest statistics indicating the total number of patients had fallen eight months in a row.. But by some measures waiting times were up, including the number of people waiting for diagnostics.. Labour have also promised to spend £4bn over a decade on new hospitals, and recruit the staff the NHS needs through a “long-term wor