Rankings come into play after June 2024. A lot of games until then (whole nations league). There's only 5 open spots. 1 will go to Africa, 1 will go to Italy/Brazil as they are far too ahead in the rankings, which leaves only 3 empty spots. If they allow Russia back that will likely take one more spot as their ranking is frozen. I dunno if Oceania gets 1 spot, but they could take one as well. Which leaves only 1 empty spot and considering how tight rankings are around us, I don't see us taking it.