The 2026 FIFA World Cup draw has been revealed including the procedures for determining the composition of the tournament’s 12 unprecedented groups of four. With less than 200 days to go the final draw for the maiden edition of the 48-team FIFA World Cup saw coaches and officials from all the qualified teams, including those with a chance of qualifying meet at the prestigious John F. Kennedy Center for the performing Arts in Washington DC.
The Procedures for the final draw held that the hosts, Canada, Mexico and the USA will be allocated to Pot 1, and remaining 39 qualified teams will then be allocated to the four pots with a maximum of 12 per pot according to FIFA/Coca-cola Men’s World Ranking issued in November 2025. Finally, the two Play-Off Tournament placeholders, as well as the four European play-off placeholders, will be allocated to pot 4
Final Draw Pots
Pot 1: In Pot 1 we had, Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany.
Pot 2: Pot 2 includes Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, IR Iran, Korea Republic, Ecuador, Austria, Australia.
Pot 3: For Pot 3 we have Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Cöte d’Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa.
Pot 4: Pot 4 includes Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, European Play-off A, B, C and D, FIFA Play-off Tournament 1 & 2.
Constraints of the draw
In Pot 1 the hosts will be identified by different colored balls. When drawn, Mexico will take position A1 (green ball), Canada will take B1 (red ball), and USA will take D1 (blue ball), as established o the match schedule released in February, 2024. The remaining 9 teams will then be allocated 9 white balls of the same colour and will automatically take the first position in each of the groups where they are drawn.
Two separate pathways to the Semi-finals were created to ensure balance. The four highest-ranked teams in the FIFA Coca-cola Men’s ranking was drawn with the following constraints- the highest ranked team (Spain) and the second highest ranked team (Argentina) were randomly drawn into opposite pathways and the same went for the third highest team (France) and fourth (England). This ensured that if they won in their groups they wouldn’t meet till the finals.
The remaining procedure for Pots 2,3, and 4 followed as contained in the draw procedures documents. A team’s position within the group was determined by the pot from which they were drawn and by the group into which they were drawn. Ideally, no group will have more than one team from the same Federation and this is applicable to all Federations except UEFA which has 16 teams, each group has no more than two UEFA teams drawn into it.
The Final Draw
At the end of the day the draws were as follows:
Group A: Mexico, South Africa, Korea Republic, European Play-off D
Group B: Canada, European Play-off A, Qatar, Switzerland
Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland
Group D: USA, Paraguay, Australia, European Play-off C
Group E: Germany, Curaçao, Côté d’Ivoire, Ecuador
Group F: Netherlands, Japan, European Play-off B, Tunisia
Group G: Belgium, Egypt, IR Iran, New Zealand
Group H: Spain, Cabo Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay
Group I: France, Senegal, FIFA Play-off Tournament 2, Norway
Group J: Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan
Group K: Portugal, FIFA Play-off Tournament 1, Uzbekistan, Colombia
Group L: England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama
