: Rudi Garcia, Head Coach of Belgium, poses on the red carpet prior to the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 05, 2025. AFP
On Friday, Egypt were drawn into Group G, where they will face Belgium, Iran, and New Zealand.
The draw for the 2026 World Cup took place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
“I'm looking forward to facing Egypt, because I had Mo Salah at AS Roma. He's a fantastic player, and I'll be very happy to see him again,” Garcia was quoted by FIFA.com about the Liverpool winger.
Egypt will open their 2026 World Cup campaign against Belgium. The two sides have met four times in friendlies, with Egypt winning three and losing one.
“After that, we have an interesting group with teams we're not used to playing, because there are no other Europeans in the group besides us. It's the beginning of the adventure. It's very exciting—we can't wait to get started,” the Belgium coach added.
Darren Bazeley, Head Coach of New Zealand,(L) and Roberto Martinez, Head Coach of Portugal. AFP
New Zealand coach hails Egyptian players
New Zealand coach Darren Bazeley has hailed the quality of Egyptian players, stressing that the competition inside the group won’t be such an easy one.
“I think it’s a good group. For us, every group was going to be challenging, but probably there could be a tougher group out there,” Bazeley was quoted as saying by FIFA.com.
“Belgium is a top-ten team in the world, Iran is one of the best teams in Asia, Egypt have very good players. There won’t be any easy games. “Since we qualified, we have spent the last nine months playing against top 40, 50 teams in the world, and it was important for us to gain that experience of playing against good players and good teams.”
Egypt has played New Zealand three times before, winning two of those encounters and drawing once.
File Photo: Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei. Photo courtesy of IRNA.
Iran coach satisfied
From his side, Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei said that he is satisfied with the group, adding that preparations are still ongoing for the prestigious event.
"In general, all the teams in different continents are very close to each other. Compared to the other groups, our condition is better,” Ghalenoei was quoted as saying by FIFA.com.
“We will play four friendly matches [ahead of the World Cup], two with seed one teams and two with seeds three and four,” he added.
Egypt has faced Iran twice, losing once and drawing once.
The Pharaohs secured their spot in next year’s tournament—jointly hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico—with an unbeaten run in the African qualifiers, finishing top of Group A with 26 points.
This will be Egypt’s fourth World Cup appearance, following previous qualifications in 1934, 1990, and 2018.
(For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
Short link: