Time and Date: The FIFA 2026 World Cup draw will take place on Friday, 5 December 2025 at 19:00 Cairo local time (17:00 GMT).
Venue: The draw will be held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the US capital Washington, D.C.
Teams Involved: A total of 42 teams will be represented in the draw. The participants are as follows
Co-hosts: Canada, Mexico and USA
AFC (Asia): Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Korea Republic, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan
CAF (Africa): Egypt, Algeria, Cap Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia
CONCACAF (North America, Central America, and the Caribbean): Curaçao, Haiti, Panama
CONMEBOL (South America): Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay
OFC (Oceania): New Zealand,
UEFA (Europe): Austria, Belgium, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland
Remaining Places: Six places in the 48-team tournament remain undecided and will be determined through play-offs to be held in March 2026.
Four of these spots will be decided by the 16-team UEFA play-offs, involving Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Denmark, Italy, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Türkiye, Ukraine, and Wales.
The final two places will be contested by Bolivia, Congo DR, Iraq, Jamaica, New Caledonia, and Suriname in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-Off Tournament.
Pots and Procedures:
The draw will follow a set procedure based on the seedings in four pots. Teams representing the host nations will be assigned to specific positions:
A1 (Mexico), B1 (Canada) and D1 (USA)
Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany
Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, IR Iran, Korea Republic, Ecuador, Austria, Australia
Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
Pot 4: Jordan, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, European Play-Off A, B, C and D, FIFA Play-Off Tournament 1 and 2
Draw Procedure:
The draw will begin with teams from Pot 1 being assigned to groups A through L. Following this, teams from Pot 2, Pot 3, and Pot 4 will be drawn in that order.
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