Four-time World Cup champion Germany finally secured their place in the 2026 edition with a 6-0 rout over Slovakia on Monday.
It will be Germany's 21st appearance in the World Cup, with the only two editions the country has missed being the inaugural 1930 World Cup it didn't enter and the 1950 tournament it was not allowed to enter.
European rival the Netherlands also qualified on Monday with a 4-0 win over Lithuania to complete an unbeaten run through group play.
The road was more dramatic for Germany, which opened their Group A play with a loss to Slovakia.
They recovered from only their third loss ever in World Cup qualifying to reel off five consecutive victories.
Germany only needed a draw on Monday to secure a spot in the 2026 World Cup, but put the game out of reach with four goals in the first half.
Germany's most recent World Cup title came in 2014, but have failed to advance out of the group stage in the past two editions.
The Netherlands are still seeking the country's first World Cup trophy, having finished runner-up three times.
Australia were dealt an early blow in their quest to reach the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 World Cup after the depleted former champions crashed to a 23-run defeat by Zimbabwe in Colombo on Friday.
Arsenal has wasted the chance to restore their six-point lead at the top of the Premier League table as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Brentford on Thursday, with Noni Madueke's second-half header cancelled out by Keane Lewis-Potter.
Defending champions India continued their march towards the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 World Cup with a 93-run win over Namibia in a group A contest at Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday.
Brothers Justin and Anthony Mosca guided Twenty20 World Cup debutants Italy to their first win in the tournament, as their unbeaten half-centuries secured a dominant 10-wicket victory over Nepal in a Group C clash on Thursday.
The 2026 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships will usher in the start of a new era for one of the Middle East’s most iconic sporting events with plans revealed for an extensive two-phase redevelopment that will transform the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium and surrounding Aviation Club Tennis Complex.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has launched the 11.5: Edge of Life Ramadan campaign to rescue 5 million children around the world from hunger.
Teams from Dubai Police and Kuwait have successfully dismantled an international drug trafficking network and foiled an attempt to smuggle more than 14 million Captagon pills inside sacks of corn grains.
The UAE’s Ministry of Education has announced that public school students will switch to remote learning on Fridays during the holy month of Ramadan, marking the second consecutive year of the initiative.