Upcoming 2026 World Cup: Key Information and Draw Details
The excitement is building for the 2026 World Cup, which is set to kick off on June 11 and culminate with the final match on July 19. Here are some essential details regarding the event.
World Cup Draw Schedule
The draw for the World Cup will take place on December 5 at noon ET (5 PM GMT) at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
– O’Hanlon highlights: All 64 national teams that can potentially win the 2026 World Cup have been ranked.
Current World Cup Qualifiers
As of now, 42 of the 48 qualifying teams have been determined. Find out who has qualified and who is still in the hunt.
Pending Qualifications
The remaining six teams, which will qualify through UEFA and interconfederation playoffs, will not be confirmed until March, when the playoff matches are completed.
It’s anticipated that placeholders will be included in Pot 4 for the UEFA playoff teams and two interconfederation playoff teams, although this awaits FIFA’s official confirmation. An alternative possibility is the allocation of playoff winners to pots based on their FIFA rankings.
For more details on the playoffs, click here.
– Ogden comments: Analysis and predictions following the 2026 World Cup playoff draw: who will secure the final six spots?
Draw Seeding Process
The 48 teams will be classified into four groups of 12 based on the FIFA World Rankings released on November 19. Each World Cup group will include one team from each pot.
The host nations—the United States, Canada, and Mexico—will occupy Pot 1 and have already been designated to specific groups. The top nine nations will join the hosts in Pot 1, with the next 12 in Pot 2, and so forth.
Teams from the same pot cannot face each other in the group stage.
Expected Pot Assignments:
Pot 1:
United States
Mexico
Canada
Spain
Argentina
France
England
Portugal
Netherlands
Belgium
Germany
Pot 2:
Croatia
Morocco
Colombia
Uruguay
Switzerland
Japan
Senegal
Iran
South Korea
Ecuador
Austria
Australia
Pot 3:
Panama
Norway
Egypt
Algeria
Scotland
Paraguay
Ivory Coast
Tunisia
Uzbekistan
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
South Africa
Pot 4:
Jordan
Cape Verde
Ghana
Curacao
Haiti
New Zealand
UEFA playoff winners (4 teams)
Interconfederation playoff winners (2 teams)
Drawing Mechanism
The draw will commence with Pot 1, while the host nations—United States, Mexico, and Canada—have already been assigned to their respective groups and will know their match schedules. For instance, Mexico will open the tournament on June 11 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
Based on previous methods, the remaining teams in Pot 1 will be allocated in alphabetical order until Group L, followed by a similar process for Pots 2, 3, and 4.
Special Conditions for the Draw
A notable condition is that no two nations from the same confederation can be drawn into the same group, with Europe being the sole exception due to having 16 qualifying nations. Consequently, four groups will likely feature two UEFA teams.
– World Cup 2026 qualifying: Overview of those qualified and remaining pathways.
Determining Remaining Qualifiers
The playoff brackets for UEFA and interconfederation teams were determined on November 20.
Four pathways were created for the UEFA playoffs, with each path featuring four teams competing in two semifinals and a final to secure a World Cup spot.
The specified playoff paths are:
UEFA PLAYOFFS
Playoff Path A: Italy vs. Northern Ireland, Wales vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina; winner of Wales-Bosnia hosts the final.
Playoff Path B: Ukraine vs. Sweden, Poland vs. Albania; winner of Ukraine-Sweden hosts the final.
Playoff Path C: Turkey vs. Romania, Slovakia vs. Kosovo; winner of Slovakia-Kosovo hosts the final.
Playoff Path D: Denmark vs. North Macedonia, Czechia vs. Republic of Ireland; winner of Czechia-Republic hosts the final.
The interconfederation playoffs include 6 teams organized into 2 paths. The top-seeded teams with the highest FIFA rankings, DR Congo and Iraq, automatically advance to each path’s final, while four other teams will compete in semifinal matches ahead of challenging the seeded teams.
INTERCONFEDERATION PLAYOFFS
Playoff Path A: New Caledonia vs. Jamaica, winner advances to face DR Congo.
Playoff Path B: Bolivia vs. Suriname, winner progresses to challenge Iraq.
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