2026 World Cup Draw: Key Details, Format, and How the 48-Team Tournament Will Be Decided
French former player Christian Karembeu poses with the 2026 FIFA World Cup trophy following the 2026 FIFA World Cup European Play-Off draw at the FIFA's Home of Football in Zurich on November 20, 2025. Photo/Courtesy
By Ruth Sang
This coming Friday, football fans worldwide will carefully watch as FIFA performs the official draw for the 2026 World Cup-the first edition that features an expanded lineup of 48 teams. Scheduled to take place from June 11 to July 19 next year, the competition across the United States, Mexico, and Canada will introduce new formats and seeding rules, making the staging of this draw one of the most anticipated in recent history.
How the Draw Will Work
The participating teams have been divided into four pots of 12 nations each. The composition of the pots is determined strictly by the latest FIFA world rankings. One team from each pot will be drawn into each of the 12 groups, ensuring all groups are made up of four teams.
In one of the major innovations in this year’s competition, FIFA re-ordered the seeding system so the world’s top four-ranked nations stay apart until the knockout stages, meaning Spain, Argentina, France, and England cannot face each other before the semi-finals, provided they all finish at the top of their respective groups.
Confederation separation rules will apply, too: no group can contain more than one nation from the same continent – except for Europe. Since UEFA has 16 qualified nations, four of the 12 groups will have two European teams.
Pre-Assigned Host Nation Groups
Since the World Cup is a collective North American event, the three host nations have already been slotted into specific groups. This has been done to ensure efficient match-day scheduling and stadium allocation.
Group D will be led by the United States, playing twice in Los Angeles and once in Seattle.
Mexico will headline Group A, hosting two games at the iconic Estadio Azteca-including the opening match on June 11-and another in Guadalajara.
Canada will anchor Group B, with one fixture in Toronto and two in Vancouver.
New Knockout Format Introduced
With the tournament expanding by 50 percent compared to Qatar 2022, the structure of the competition also changed. The group stage will include 72 matches, though only 16 of the 48 participating teams will be eliminated at this stage.
The top two from each group will advance to the new Round of 32, along with the eight best third-placed teams. This greatly increases the amount of knockout fixtures and extends the excitement for supporters.
Seeding Pots for the Draw
Pot 1: USA, Mexico, Canada, 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, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
Pot 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, four UEFA play-off winners, two Intercontinental play-off winners
Qualifying Play-Off Paths
The remaining four qualifiers of UEFA will be determined through playoff paths scheduled for March 26th in semi-finals and March 31st for the finals. The paths are as follows:
Path A: Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Italy or Northern Ireland
Path B: Ukraine or Sweden vs Poland or Albania
Path C: Slovakia or Kosovo vs Turkey or Romania
Path D: Czech Republic or Ireland vs Denmark or North Macedonia
Intercontinental playoffs, to be played in their entirety in Mexico on the same dates, will feature:
New Caledonia or Jamaica vs DR Congo Bolivia or Suriname vs Iraq Friday’s draw will set the scene for a historic World Cup-the biggest and most geographically diverse edition ever staged-as the world waits with bated breath for the outcome.
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