The 2026 World Cup draw will be held before the field is settled in full, as December 5 gives every nation its path to the World Cup Final.
The draw will be held on December 5 in Washington, DC, and 42 of the 48 berths have been sealed. The playoffs in March will then determine the final six berths, but the nations will know their would-be groups after the draw.
MORE — 2026 World Cup draw preview
For the full list of teams that have qualified for the 2026 World Cup, click here.
World Cup draw pots: How they work
The 48 teams will be divided into four pots of 12, with the hosts joining FIFA"s top-nine in seeded places for the tournament.
Pot 1: All of the top-nine sides have qualified for the World Cup as of post time, FIFA’s final pre-draw men’s rankings in November see Spain, Argentina, France, and England as the top four teams in the world, followed by Portugal, the Netherlands, Brazil, Belgium and Germany. The hosts United States, Canada, and Mexico are guaranteed seeded spots.
Pots 2, 3, and 4: The teams are then sorted into the pots by ranking, with the six teams qualifying through the playoffs placed in Pot 4.
World Cup draw rules: How does it work?
All 48 teams have their names printed on a slip of paper which is folded into a plastic ball numbered 1-4 to represent their pot. Selectors then mix up the balls and pick one at a time to determine who falls in which group.
The three hosts in Pot 1 have pre-determined groups. Mexico is in Group A, Canada in Group B, and the United States in Group D.
The remaining nine Pot 1 nations will be in Groups C, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, and L.
With 16 teams coming from Europe and just 12 groups, there will be four groups with multiple teams from the same confederation. No more than two UEFA teams can be in the same group, and no other nation will meet a team from its qualifying confederation during the group stage.
Additionally, FIFA announced on Tuesday that the top-four ranked teams (Spain, Argentina, France and England) will be placed into four different pathways (quadrants) of the bracket, meaning they will be kept apart from playing each other until the semifinals and finals, provided they win their respective groups.
World Cup draw: Group of Death scenarios
Some don’t favor the term, but every draw has delivered at least one “Group of Death” — four teams without an easy out in the group.
The expanded pool may makes these groups slightly less fearsome but there will be a tough draw handed to someone especially with three host groups.
2022 saw Germany, Japan, Spain, and Costa Rica. 2018? Argentina, Iceland, Croatia, and Nigeria. Before that, there was 2014 with two brutal runs: Group D of England, Italy, Uruguay, and Costa Rica and Group G’s Germany, Portugal, Ghana, and the United States.
