Overview of the 2026 World Cup Draw and Tournament Structure

The draw for the 2026 World Cup, set to take place on December 5, will categorize the four highest-ranked teams—Spain, Argentina, France, and England—in distinct sections of a newly designed, tennis-style seeded tournament bracket.

FIFA announced that the top four teams in the latest men’s rankings will, should they secure the top positions in their respective round-robin groups, avoid one another until the semifinals of the tournament, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.

Defending champion Argentina, featuring star player Lionel Messi, and the top-ranked European champion Spain, with Lamine Yamal, can thus ensure that they only meet in the final at MetLife Stadium near New York.

In previous World Cups, the routes for teams into the knockout phase were determined by their initial group assignments. This draw, taking place at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., will see 48 participating teams divided into four pots. Teams will then be drawn into 12 groups of four. An updated match schedule detailing each match’s venue and kickoff time will be released on December 6. The draw is expected to last approximately 45 minutes within a broader one-and-a-half-hour show, as indicated by FIFA.

The three host nations will be included in Pot 1 alongside the nine highest-ranked countries according to FIFA’s latest rankings. These nations are Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.

Currently, 42 teams have qualified for the tournament, including Iran and Haiti, with FIFA indicating that these teams will compete in their allocated draw positions, irrespective of any political complexities with the U.S. The 16 venues for the 104 matches will include 11 locations featuring NFL stadiums in the U.S., and three in Mexico and two in Canada.

The remaining six teams will be determined in March during European and global playoff brackets, and they will be drawn from the pot containing the lowest-ranked teams. Notably, four-time champion Italy may present a formidable challenge in next week’s draw, which will establish the match schedule by organizing teams into 12 round-robin groups of four.

For Pot 1, the host nations—Canada, Mexico, and the United States—will each be represented by colored balls. When drawn, Mexico will occupy position A1 (green ball), Canada will be assigned B1 (red ball), and the USA will be allocated D1 (blue ball). The remaining nine top-ranked teams in Pot 1 will be represented by balls of the same color and automatically assigned to Position 1 in their respective groups.

The next tier, Pot 2, will include the 12 highest-ranked teams, which consist of Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, and Australia. Pot 3 will feature another 12 high-ranking teams: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.

Pot 4 will contain the remaining teams along with the six winners of the intercontinental playoffs, including Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, and New Zealand. The playoff winners will consist of four teams from UEFA and two from other confederations.

The draw process will ensure that teams from the same confederation cannot be grouped together, with the exception of Europe, due to the disproportionate number of European teams (16) compared to available groups (12). This arrangement will lead to four groups featuring two European teams, while the others will include one.

To maintain competitive balance, the top-ranked teams, Spain and Argentina, will be randomly drawn into opposite pathways, a practice mirrored for the third and fourth-ranked teams, France and England. This structure guarantees that the highest-ranked teams cannot face each other before the final.

For the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT), previously placed in Group D, they will encounter a team from Pot 3 in their opening match on June 12 in Inglewood, California. This will be succeeded by a match against a Pot 2 team on June 19 at Lumen Field in Seattle, culminating with a showdown against a Pot 4 team back in Inglewood. The most challenging game for the USMNT is likely to be the second match against a Pot 2 opponent.

Similarly, Mexico, designated in Group A, will inaugurate the tournament on June 11 against a Pot 3 team at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. Their subsequent matches will include a fixture against a Pot 2 team on June 18 at Estadio Akron near Guadalajara, and their final group stage match six days later against a Pot 4 team, returning once again to Mexico City.

Canada’s schedule will differ slightly, as they will kick off the tournament on June 12 at BMO Field in Toronto against a Pot 4 team. Their second match will be held in Vancouver six days later against a Pot 3 team, with a final group stage match against a Pot 2 team also taking place in Vancouver.

### World Cup Draw Pots
**Pot 1:** Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany
**Pot 2:** Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia
**Pot 3:** Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
**Pot 4:** Jordan, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, European Playoff A, B, C, and D, FIFA Playoff Tournament 1 and 2.