“As you can imagine, draw day is quite something when international football is one of your things. I want to chip in on possible groups of death. These are the two of the hardest groups I could come up with:
Argentina
Morocco
Norway
Italy (If they qualify)
“And what about groups that sound really easy? Well, how about these:
Canada
Austria
Qatar
Cape Verde
Belgium
Iran
South Africa
Curacao
All of these groups would be possible in the same draw, and I guess those might feel a little unfair. On the other hand, I am exactly the sort of person who would love to see all these juicy matches!
Rogorn gets in touch: “One thing about the World Cup draw: I see that the hosts have chosen to give themselves (or Fifa has chosen for them) the advantage of having more days to complete the tournament (by being among the first teams to start playing) over the advantage to play last in the group stages, therefore knowing what results they need (and the third-place thing will be key). If you were in their places, which of these two advantages would you choose?
“One other thing: are the venues going to be drawn too, or will this be decided by the organising committee between today and tomorrow? And if so, which teams will be sent where (i.e., which teams will play in the USA as opposed to… not?)“
The venues come out as part of the draw, with fixtures confirmed on the Saturday.
Jamie Jackson
Pep Guardiola has been reflecting on next summer’s World Cup in America, pointing to his experience with Spain in the heat of America at the 1994 edition.
“United States in ‘94 we played in Dallas [a 2-2 draw with South Korea] and wow. We were out [as substitutes or squad members] and maybe it would have been better to be inside like Thomas [Tuchel] has decided [for England]. In some states and in Mexico in summer, it’s hot. A lot of drinks are needed.”
There has been talk Tuchel will keep his subs in the cooler/in the dressing-room until it’s time to call on them.
We will soon know who landed a “group of death”, though third place qualification from groups does rather reduce the deadliness. Will Unwin has been pruning his permutations.
David Hytner hopes the draw can be about the football. Let’s hope so, too.
It can sound corny when players and managers talk about fulfilling childhood dreams at the World Cup. But the emotion during qualification has been real. The scenes, for example, when Scotland secured their first spot at a finals since France 98 with the epic Hampden Park victory over Denmark will live for ever. And how about when Cape Verde got there with the home win over Eswatini? Africa had five places for Qatar 22. They now have a guaranteed nine. It will be 10 if the Democratic Republic of the Congo win their playoff final against New Caledonia or Jamaica.
Here are the pots.
FIFA World Cup 2026 finals draw pots Photograph: FIFA
Via the Fifa media release, here’s what we can expect on the razzmatazz front.
Global icons Heidi Klum and Kevin Hart to co-host final draw show at Kennedy Center in Washington DC
Actor and producer Danny Ramirez to engage football greats in attendance, bringing Hollywood flair
Live performances to be delivered by legendary maestro Andrea Bocelli, Village People and global music superstar Robbie Williams, who will be joined by award-winning multi-hyphenate Nicole Scherzinger
Lunchtime listening: Jonathan Liew on the political hue of next summer.
The technicalities are here, as picked through by Tom Lutz.
And how does the actual draw work?
The 48 teams have been divided into four pots containing 12 teams each. Pot 1 consists of the three co-hosts – USA, Mexico and Canada – along with the nine top teams in the current Fifa rankings. The next three pots were decided by the Fifa rankings, with the lowest-ranked qualified teams in Pot 4. The 12 groups for the World Cup will then be formed by one team from each pot (full pots listed later).
Sounds simple!
Well, not quite. There are still six qualification places to be decided via playoffs in late March, and teams involved in those matches have been placed in Pot 4. That means a team such as Italy will be ostensibly the weakest opponents in a group, even though they have won the World Cup four times and are ranked No 12 in the world, should they come through the European qualifying playoffs. Teams from the same qualifying conference should, in theory, not be in the same group. But that is impossible for European teams as Uefa will have 16 teams in the draw. There will, though, be a maximum of two European teams in any group. In addition, the top four teams in the Fifa rankings – Spain, Argentina, France and England – cannot face each other until the semi-finals (of course, they have to make it there first), provided they win their groups.
Preamble
Welcome to our live coverage of the draw for the World Cup 2026 finals. The USA, Canada and Mexico beckon, as perhaps do your travel plans. With 48 teams to be drawn, there will be plenty to get across, not least because not all of the finalists have yet been decided. We’re expecting glitz and glamour, and that’s just from Rio Ferdinand and Gianni Infantino, so join as we bring the latest from Washington DC. The town’s most famous semi-resident will make his usual splash, no doubt.
