Everything You Need to Know About the 48-Team World Cup Draw

The draw for the inaugural 48-team FIFA World Cup will take place on Friday, 5 December, at the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.

The tournament itself will run from 11 June to 19 July 2026, across the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The draw begins at 12:00 noon local time (17:00 GMT).

Draw Format and Top Seeds

Teams are divided into four pots of 12 based on FIFA rankings. The draw will start with Pot 1, featuring the 12 seeded teams, which include:

• Top four-ranked nations: Spain, Argentina, France and England
• Next five best-seeded nations: Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Netherlands and Portugal
• Three host nations: United States, Mexico and Canada

The remaining pots, 2, 3 and 4, will be drawn in order to complete the 12 groups (Groups A to L). Six World Cup spots are still up for grabs through play-offs in March. Notably, Italy, four-time World Cup winners and 12th in the FIFA rankings, could end up in Pot 4 if they qualify. Debutants Uzbekistan are in Pot 3, while Jordan, Cape Verde and Curaçao are in Pot 4.

Draw Mechanics

Each nation’s name is printed on a slip of paper, folded, and placed inside a numbered plastic ball corresponding to its pot. The balls are mixed in large glass bowls and drawn one at a time to form the groups.

Keeping Top Seeds Apart

For the first time, FIFA has designed the draw so that the four highest-ranked nations, Spain, Argentina, France and England, cannot meet before the semi-finals, provided they top their groups. No group can include more than one team from the same confederation, except UEFA, which will have 16 teams. This means four groups will contain two European nations.

The 2026 World Cup draw places the top four teams in separate quadrants of a new seeded bracket. FIFA confirmed that “the top four nations, if they finish top of their respective round-robin groups, will avoid each other until the semifinals.” Defending champions Argentina and Spain, for example, could meet only in the final at MetLife Stadium near New York.

Host Nations Assigned to Groups

• United States: Group D, playing two matches in Los Angeles and one in Seattle
• Mexico: Group A, with two games at the Azteca Stadium, including the opening match on 11 June, and one in Guadalajara
• Canada: Group B, hosting one game in Toronto and two in Vancouver

Expanded Tournament and Knockout Format

With 50 per cent more teams than the 2022 edition, the tournament introduces an extra knockout round. The round of 32 will include the top two teams from each group plus the eight best third-placed teams. Across the 72 group-stage matches, only 16 teams will be eliminated.

Teams by Seeding

• Pot 1: United States, 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, 4 UEFA play-off winners, 2 Intercontinental play-off winners

Play-Off Pathways

UEFA Play-Offs (16 teams, four paths, one qualifier per path):

• Path A: Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina v Italy or Northern Ireland
• Path B: Ukraine or Sweden v Poland or Albania
• Path C: Slovakia or Kosovo v Turkey or Romania
• Path D: Czech Republic or Ireland v Denmark or North Macedonia
• Dates: Semi-finals 26 March, finals 31 March

Intercontinental Play-Offs (6 teams, two paths):

• Path 1: New Caledonia or Jamaica v DR Congo
• Path 2: Bolivia or Suriname v Iraq
• Dates: Semi-finals 26 March, finals 31 March, all matches in Mexico

How to Watch

Live coverage of the draw will be available on FIFA.com, FIFA World Cup social media channels, and through FIFA’s media partners.

With the expanded 48-team format, fans can expect a record number of matches, exciting new group dynamics, and the debut of fresh nations on football’s biggest stage.