All You Need To Know About 2026 FIFA World Cup Draw

FIFA have confirmed the final draw pots for the 2026 World Cup, with world champions Argentina in pot one alongside Spain, England, France and Brazil.

The hosts, the United States, Canada, and Mexico, will also be in pot one.

Teams in the same pot cannot face each other in the group stage.

The draw ceremony will be held at the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C., on December 5, with 42 teams officially booking their spots in the tournament.

The remaining six will be determined after the Intercontinental playoffs in March.

Four will come from the 16-team UEFA play-offs, which will be contested by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Denmark, Italy, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia, Poland, the Republic of Ireland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Türkiye, Ukraine and Wales.

The other two spots will be contested by six teams – Bolivia, Congo DR, Iraq, Jamaica, New Caledonia and Suriname – at the FIFA World Cup Play-Off Tournament.

How Does The Seeding Work?

The 48 teams, or placeholders, will be divided into four pots of 12 teams, using the FIFA World Rankings list published Nov. 19. Each World Cup group will consist of one team from each pot.

The hosts – the United States, Canada and Mexico — will be placed in Pot 1, as always, and have already been assigned to specific groups.

The top nine countries will join the three hosts in Pot 1, with the next 12 in Pot 2, and so on.

Teams in the same pot cannot face each other in the group stage.

Pot 1:

United States
Mexico
Canada
Spain
Argentina
France
England
Portugal
Netherlands
Belgium
Germany

Pot 2:

Croatia
Morocco
Colombia
Uruguay
Switzerland
Japan
Senegal
Iran
South Korea
Ecuador
Austria
Australia

Pot 3:

Panama
Norway
Egypt
Algeria
Scotland
Paraguay
Ivory Coast
Tunisia
Uzbekistan
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
South Africa

Pot 4:

Jordan
Cape Verde
Ghana
Curaçao
Haiti
New Zealand
UEFA playoff winners (4 teams)
Interconfederation playoff winners (2 teams)

The tournament will take place from June 11 to July 19, 2026. It will be jointly hosted by 16 cities in three North American countries; the main host country of matches is the United States, while Canada and Mexico will co-host.

The tournament will be the first to be hosted by three nations.