FIFA World Cup 2026 Draw Explained: How It Works and What Fans Need to Know

The countdown is on for the historic 48-team FIFA World Cup 2026, and the World Cup Draw is set to reveal the group stage matchups that will kick off the tournament. On Friday, Dec. 5, team officials, coaches and FIFA representatives will gather at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. to discover which nations they will face on the road to the championship at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, July 19, 2026.

The draw marks one of the most anticipated events in the World Cup calendar, as it officially establishes the 12 groups of four and sets the stage for the first round of play.

Teams Included in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Draw

There are 42 confirmed teams who have already qualified for FIFA World Cup 2026:

• Co-hosts (3): Canada, Mexico, USA

• AFC (8): Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Uzbekistan

• CAF (9): Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia

• CONCACAF (3): Curaçao, Haiti, Panama

• CONMEBOL (6): Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay

• OFC (1): New Zealand

• UEFA (12): Austria, Belgium, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland

Six spots remain undecided:

• European Playoffs (4 spots): Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Denmark, Italy, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Türkiye, Ukraine, Wales

• Inter-Confederation Playoffs (2 spots): Bolivia, Congo DR, Iraq, Jamaica, New Caledonia, Suriname

Six of those squads will complete the 48-team field in March 2026, just months before the tournament kicks off.

What the FIFA World Cup 2026 Draw Will Reveal

When the draw concludes, fans will know:

1. Group matchups: Which teams will play each other in the group stage.

2. Knockout pathways: How each side of the bracket is shaped, setting potential semifinal and final scenarios.

3. Continental representation: How each confederation’s teams are distributed across the 12 groups.

According to FIFA, the updated match schedule—which confirms the stadium that will host each game and the kickoff times—will be released on the following day, Saturday, Dec. 6, 

How the FIFA World Cup 2026 Draw Is Organized

The 48-team World Cup field will be divided into four pots, with each pot containing 12 teams. The placement was determined by FIFA’s Men’s World Ranking from Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, as well as host nation rules and play-off placeholder slots.

How Teams Are Assigned to Pots

• Pot 1: The three host nations — Canada, Mexico, and the USA — are automatically placed in the top pot. They are joined by the nine highest-ranked teams in the FIFA rankings.

• Pot 2: The next 12 highest-ranked teams.

• Pot 3: The following 12 teams in the rankings.

• Pot 4: The next six teams based on ranking, plus six placeholders representing:

  • Four European Playoff winners

  • Two Inter-Confederation Playoff Tournament winners

These playoffs will be contested in March 2026, finalizing the last six spots in the tournament.

Below are the four pots as they stand ahead of the draw:

How Teams Are Drawn Into Groups

• The draw begins with Pot 1 and proceeds through Pots 2, 3, and 4 in order.

• Each team drawn is assigned to one of the 12 groups (Groups A–L).

• A predefined placement system determines the exact group position (e.g., A2, C4, etc.) for each team from Pots 2–4.

This structure ensures that each group contains one team from each pot and that confederation limits are respected.

FIFA World Cup 2026 Draw Restrictions

To ensure competitive balance and fairness, the World Cup Draw follows several specific rules:

• Confederation limits: Generally, no group can include more than one team from the same confederation (AFC, CAF, CONMEBOL, etc.), except UEFA. With 16 UEFA teams in the tournament, two groups will include two UEFA teams, while all other groups will have just one.

• Host nations: The co-hosts—Mexico, Canada, and the USA—cannot be drawn into a group containing a team from the FIFA Play-Off Tournament if that team is from the same confederation. For example, Jamaica and Suriname, as CONCACAF teams, cannot be drawn into a group with any of the co-hosts.

• Top-ranked teams: FIFA will place the four highest-ranked teams (Spain, Argentina, France and England) across the knockout bracket using a tennis-style seeding system. Spain and Argentina will be in opposite halves of the bracket, as will France and England. If all four win their groups, this placement ensures that none of them can face another until the semifinals, with Spain vs. Argentina or France vs. England potentially meeting only in the final.

These rules collectively maintain competitive balance, prevent early matchups between top teams and respect geographic representation across the tournament.

Do We Know Any FIFA World Cup 2026 Matches Ahead of the Draw?

Yes, but only partially. As co-hosts, the United States, Mexico, and Canada already know the dates and stadiums for their group-stage matches, since FIFA locked in host-nation match slots when the 2026 schedule was released. That means each host nation knows when and where it will play during the group stage.

What remains unknown until the draw is who they’ll face and the specific kickoff times. The draw will officially assign opponents to each host nation’s match slots and finalize the full group-stage schedule.

Here are the dates and venues for the host teams' group-stage matches.

Where Will the FIFA World Cup 2026 be played?

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be hosted across 16 cities in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, marking the first tournament with three host nations. Matches will take place in the following cities and stadiums.

When is the 2026 FIFA World Cup?

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will take place from Thursday, June 11, 2026, to Sunday, July 19, 2026. Here are the dates for every round:

Group Stage: June 11 to June 27 Round of 32: June 28 to July 3 Round of 16: July 4 to July 7 Quarterfinals: July 9 to July 11 Semifinals: July 14 to July 15 Final: July 19