What to Expect from the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final Draw
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will feature 48 national teams for the first time
Posted On: December 5, 2025 By :The Final Draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup takes place on December 5 and it promises to be a glitzy and milestone occasion for a number of reasons.
For the first time, the Men’s FIFA World Cup will be staged in three different countries in the summer of 2026, in Canada, Mexico and the United States, across 16 host cities (11 in the United States, three in Mexico and two in Canada). From June 11 to July 19, 2026, 48 national teams will compete for the Jules Rimet trophy – a significant increase from 32 teams in 2022 – in 104 matches.
The increased competition also meant that some new national teams were able to come through their respective qualifying phases to make their Men’s FIFA World Cup debut in 2026, namely Uzbekistan, Jordan, Cape Verde and Curaçao.
With the Draw just hours away and the tournament approaching in six months’ time, plenty of questions remain before the big kick-off. Here is everything you can expect from today’s Draw:
The Draw Arrangements
The Draw ceremony will take place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., from midday ET local time (5pm GMT / 6pm CET). FIFA is promising a superstar line-up to match the height of the occasion, with supermodel Heidi Klum, comedian Kevin Hart and actor Danny Ramirez co-hosting the ceremony, Andrea Bocelli, Robbie Williams, Nicole Scherzinger and the Village People all performing live music performances, and former footballer Rio Ferdinand and broadcaster Samantha Johnson conducting the Draw with sporting greats including Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky, Aaron Judge and Shaquille O’Neal.
It is expected that FIFA President Gianni Infantino and US President Donald Trump will both make speeches during the event.
The Pots
42 teams have already qualified for next summer’s flagship event, with six more from across the world set to join them in March once they qualify through play-off tournaments. The six national teams that will qualify in March have automatically been placed in Pot Four, no matter what continental confederation they compete in.
There will be 12 groups, all comprising four national teams with one from each Pot.
The three co-hosts (Canada, Mexico and the United States) have been placed in Pot One and their groups have already been pre-determined. Mexico will face off against a Pot Three team in the opening match at the newly renovated Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
The Pots are as follows:
Pot One: Canada, Mexico, United States, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Portugal, Brazil, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany
Pot Two: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia
Pot Three: Panama, Norway, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
Pot Four: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, UEFA Play-Off A, UEFA Play-Off B, UEFA Play-Off C, UEFA Play-Off D, FIFA Play-Off 1, FIFA Play-Off 2
The six Play-Off paths are:
UEFA Play-Off A: Italy, Wales, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Ireland
UEFA Play-Off B: Ukraine, Poland, Albania, Sweden
UEFA Play-Off C: Turkey, Slovakia, Kosovo, Romania
UEFA Play-Off D: Denmark, Czech Republic, Republic of Ireland, North Macedonia
FIFA Play-Off 1: DR Congo, Jamaica, New Caledonia
FIFA Play-off 2: Iraq, Bolivia, Suriname
Draw Restrictions and Changes
Teams from Pot One will be drawn first, followed by those from Pots Two, Three and Four.
For the first time, the top four-ranked teams in the world (Spain, Argentina, France and England) will be kept apart until at least the semi-finals, if they win their respective groups and progress through the knockout rounds. There will also be a Round-of-32 stage for the first time to accommodate the increased number of teams, and only 16 teams will be eliminated in the group stage (all fourth-placed teams, and the three worst-performing third-placed teams).
National teams cannot be drawn in the same group as a rival from the same continental confederation (e.g. Tunisia and Egypt), unless they are from UEFA (Europe) which has the most teams competing. No more than two UEFA teams can be placed in the same group.
Matches and their Locations
The full tournament match schedule will be released 24 hours after the Final Draw due to logistical reasons. That means that fans will not know where and when their national teams will be playing their group-stage matches until midday ET / 5pm GMT / 6pm CET on December 6.
After the Draw has been made and the match schedule has been released, it will trigger a wave of flight and accommodation bookings from fans across the world. Further ticket releases will be made in due course, likely in early 2026, on FIFA’s ticketing website and partner sites such as StubHub.
FIFA Peace Prize
FIFA will hand out its first-ever Peace Prize to “reward individuals who have taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace and by doing so have united people across the world.” It is widely anticipated that U.S. President Donald Trump will receive the inaugural award.
Brick by Brick: FIFA and Lego Announce Partnership
FIFA and the Lego Group have announced a collaboration which will debut with a Lego Editions FIFA World Cup Official Trophy. Available to pre-order now for a March 2026 release, the official replica 1:1 scale model is constructed from 2,482 Lego elements and includes the highest number of gold-colored bricks ever used in a single Lego set.
Tickets for matches and hospitality packages will soon go back on sale at FIFA’s ticketing website after the Draw has been made and the match schedule has been revealed.
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