Can UAE Qualify For 2026 Fifa World Cup After Coach Paulo Bento's Sacking?

With their hopes for qualifying for the 2026 Fifa World Cup still alive, the UAE will look for a fresh start under a new coach after Paulo Bento was sacked on Wednesday.

The Portuguese manager was dismissed the morning after his team kept alive their chances of direct qualification to the World Cup with a last-gasp win over North Korea in Riyadh.

In a hard-fought match against the North Koreans, Sultan Adil scored deep into stoppage time to secure the 2-1 win that cut the gap to second-placed Uzbekistan in Group A to four points ahead of the meeting between the two countries in their penultimate third-round qualifier on June 5.

The top two from each of three Asian groups qualify automatically for the 2026 finals but Bento will not now be around for the conclusion of the campaign.

"The UAE Football Association has decided to dismiss the head coach of the national team, Portuguese Paulo Bento, along with his coaching staff," UAEFA said in a message on social media on Wednesday.

Bento, who guided Portugal to the semifinals of Euro 2012 and South Korea to the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup, had led the UAE to 14 wins, six draws and six losses since he took over in July 2023.

So can the UAE qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1990?

Yes, they can, but they have to navigate the complexities of the Asian World Cup qualifying campaign.

Asia has eight direct slots for the next Fifa World Cup which will be a 48-team tournament.

Iran have already qualified from Group A and the UAE will also join them in the 2026 World Cup if they beat Uzbekistan at home on June 5 and record another win in the last qualifier in Kyrgyzstan on June 10.

But they also need Uzbekistan to lose their final game to Qatar on the same day.

If these results in June go the UAE's way, the Whites will end up with 19 points from 10 matches and the Uzbekistan will finish their campaign with 17 points in Group A.

But if Uzbekistan beat Qatar (10 points from eight matches) on June 10, then the UAE would finish third in Group A.

While a third-place finish in the group is not enough for direct qualification, it will earn them a spot in the six-team fourth round of qualifying.

In the fourth round, the six teams will be divided into two groups of three each.

The winners of each group will earn the last two direct slots for the World Cup, while the two runners-up teams will be locked in a playoff battle.

The winner of the Asian playoff will then advance to an inter-confederation playoff tournament featuring five other teams for the final two slots in the World Cup.

So it's a very tricky road ahead for the UAE as their fans will hope that the country's football federation finds a world-class coach to guide the team to the next World Cup (June 11-July 19, 2026) in the US, Canada and Mexico.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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