The long journey to the 2026 World Cup reaches a key milestone on Friday in Washington, D.C., as the draw takes place at the Kennedy Center. After months of qualifying, teams will finally learn their opponents, fans will discover the cities they will be travelling to, and Qatar will make their first World Cup appearance as a non-host nation.
- The 48 teams are seeded into four pots based on the FIFA rankings from November 2025.
- Every group will get one team from each pot.
- By the end of the draw, there will be 12 groups, labelled from A to L.
- Co-hosts Mexico, Canada and the USA are all placed in Pot 1. Mexico pre-assigned to Group A, Canada to Group B and the USA to Group D.
- Teams from the same confederation cannot be drawn into the same group, except for UEFA, which may have a maximum of two teams in any group.
- Qatar will be placed in Pot 3 after reaching the finals for the first time as a non-host nation.
- Four nations are making their World Cup debut: Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan.
- 42 teams have already qualified.
- 16 teams will battle for the remaining six in late March 2026.
- 12 European sides will contest four spots through the UEFA playoffs.
- 6 teams from the remaining continents will compete for the two spots through Inter-Confederation Playoffs.
- The tournament will feature 104 matches played over 39 days across 16 host cities.
- Mexico will play the opening game at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on 11 June 2026.
- The final will be staged at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on 19 July 2026.
The Teams
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
Curaçao
Haiti
New Zealand
UEFA Path A
UEFA Path B
UEFA Path C
UEFA Path D
Inter-Confederation Playoff 1
Inter-Confederation Playoff 2
The March 2026 Playoffs
UEFA A
Wales
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Italy
Northern Ireland
UEFA B
Ukraine
Sweden
Poland
Albania
UEFA C
Slovakia
Kosovo
Turkey
Romania
UEFA D
Czech Republic
Ireland
Denmark
North Macedonia
Inter-Confederation 1
DR Congo
Jamaica
New Caledonia
Inter-Confederation 2
Iraq
Bolivia
Suriname
Where?
Washington D.C.
When?
20:00 Doha
Timing In Other Major Cities
0900 Los Angeles
1100 Ottawa
1100 Mexico City
1200 New York
1200 Washington D.C.
1200 Toronto
1400 Rio de Janeiro
1400 Buenos Aires
1700 London (GMT)
1800 Paris
1800 Rome
1800 Berlin
1800 Brussels
1900 Cairo
2000 Riyadh
2000 Moscow
2100 Dubai
2230 Delhi
0100 Beijing DEC 6
0200 Tokyo DEC 6
0200 Seoul DEC 6
0400 Sydney DEC 6
0600 Auckland DEC 6