The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process will decide 31 of the 32 teams which will play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with the hosts Russia qualifying automatically. All 208 remaining FIFA member associations are eligible to enter the qualifying process. For the first time in World Cup history, all national teams registered for the preliminary competition, although due to suspensions not all teams participated in qualification. Bhutan and South Sudan made their FIFA World Cup qualification debuts. With the admission of Gibraltar and Kosovo as FIFA members in May 2016, both national teams are eligible to make their debuts in World Cup qualifying.
While the main qualifying draw took place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg on 25 July 2015, a number of qualification matches were played before that. The first began in Dili, Timor-Leste on 12 March as part of the AFC's qualification, with East Timorese player Chiquito do Carmo scoring the first goal of qualification. Matches were also played in CONCACAF prior to the main draw.
The number of teams participating in the final tournament is 32. Even though the qualification process began in March 2015, the allocation of slots for each confederation was discussed by the FIFA Executive Committee on 30 May 2015 in Zürich after the FIFA Congress. It was decided that the same allocation as 2014 would be kept for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.