When is the 2026 World Cup draw?
- Published
The draw for the 2026 World Cup will take place on Friday, 5 December at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, at 17:00 GMT (12:00 local time).
It will be the biggest World Cup yet, with 48 nations taking part - an expansion from 32.
The three host countries - the United States, Mexico and Canada - qualify automatically, while nations from other confederations have their own qualifying campaigns.
The first Fifa Peace Prize will also be awarded by the organisation's president Gianni Infantino on the day of the draw.
The 2026 World Cup will start on 11 June, with the final on 19 July.
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How do the seedings work?
The 48 participating teams have been placed into four pots of 12 based on Fifa rankings.
Pot one includes the host nations and the nine top countries in the Fifa world rankings.
Pots two, three and four will include the next-best ranked teams - so in theory, each group should be balanced.
However, the six play-off winnershave beenplaced into pot four and some European (Uefa) teams will have a higher world ranking than the automatic qualifiers in other pots. For instance, Italy and Denmark would have been in pot two had they qualified automatically.
How will the draw work?
The 12 groups at the World Cup will include one team from each of the four pots.
Fifa will start by drawing the teams from pot one.
Co-hosts Mexico (A1), Canada (B1) and the United States (D1) will have coloured balls with their flags on to denote their special status. Their group positions are pre-determined so they play all their games in their own countries.
Fifa has announced that Spain (1st seed) and Argentina (2) will be 'paired' and placed into groups in opposite halves of the draw.
France (3) and England (4) will also be paired, which means England will not be able to come up against Spain or Argentina until the semi-finals, and France until the final.
This only applies if the four countries win their groups. If so, each would drop into a different coloured quadrant of the knockout bracket.
If Spain, Argentina, France and England win their groups they slot into separate quadrants for the knockout bracket
Once a team has been drawn they will go into the first available group, adhering to the draw constraints, in alphabetical order. The draw computer will ensure Spain, Argentina, France and England are placed in groups in the correct section of the bracket.
The draw then continues with pot two, pot three and finally pot four.
In a change to previous draw procedures, and to speed up the process, countries will not be drawn into their group position.
Seeded countries will all go into position one, with a pre-determined random grid deciding how other countries will slot into the group to create the fixtures, as shown in the image below.
For instance, take Scotland in pot three. If they are drawn first from that pot they will go into Group A with Mexico.
The grid shows the team from pot three will go into position two of Group A. The first match is A1 v A2, so Mexico would play Scotland in the opening game of the World Cup.
The group position by pot has been pre-determined and will not be decided by draw
No group can have more than one country from the same confederation. So for instance when Colombia are drawn from pot two, they cannot go into a group with Argentina or Brazil.
This applies to all pots, with the caveat that four groups will have two European nations, as there are 16 European qualifiers to be drawn into 12 groups.
The inter-confederation play-offs will have few potential group options. Pathway 1 (New Caledonia, Jamaica, DR Congo) cannot be drawn into a group with Concacaf or African teams. Pathway 2 (Bolivia, Suriname, Iraq) must avoid South America, Concacaf and Asia.
While the date and order of games will be known when the draw is made, the venues and kick-off times will not be confirmed until Saturday, 6 December.
Who has qualified?
As of 18 November 2025, 42 countries have qualified for the 2026 World Cup:
Hosts: Canada, Mexico, United States
Africa: Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia
Asia: Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Uzbekistan
Europe: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland
Oceania: New Zealand
South America: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay
North and Central America and the Caribbean: Curacao, Panama, Haiti
Who are in the play-offs?
Play-offs for a place at the 2026 World Cup will take place in March.
There are two routes, one for Uefa (four places) and one for the other four confederations (two places).
The Uefa play-offs feature 16 teams - the 12 group runners-up and four Uefa Nations League group winners. There will be a semi-final and a final in each path.
Uefa Play-off A: Italy v Northern Ireland, Wales v Bosnia-Herzegovina
Uefa Play-off B: Ukraine v Sweden, Poland v Albania
Uefa Play-off C: Turkey v Romania, Slovakia v Kosovo
Uefa Play-off D: Denmark v North Macedonia, Czech Republic v Republic of Ireland
In the inter-confederation play-off paths, the top seeds (DR Congo and Iraq) go direct to the final.
Fifa Play-off 1: DR Congo to play the winners of Jamaica v New Caledonia
Fifa Play-off 2: Iraq to play the winners of Bolivia v Suriname
How can I watch the draw on the BBC?
The draw will be broadcast live on the BBC and BBC iPlayer from 17:00 GMT on 5 December.
There will also be live text coverage on the BBC Sport website and app.
Alternatively, you can listen live on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds.
You can also tune into the BBC Sport website and YouTube channel after the draw for all the reaction.
When will teams find out when and where they will play?
While all nations will know their opponents and match dates on Friday, 5 December they will have to wait 24 hours to find out venues and kick-off times.
The exceptions are groups A (Mexico), B (Canada) and D (US), which contain the three host nations hosts and already have set stadiums for the fixtures, but not kick-off times.
But for all other groups, you'll know only the date and the order of matches after the draw has been completed.
Fifa will unveil the match schedule in a live global broadcast on Saturday, 6 December at 17:00 GMT (12:00 local time).
Fifa president Gianni Infantino will be joined on stage by legends of the game to discuss the key matches.
All 12 groups will play fixtures in this order:
Match Day 1: 1 v 2, 3 v 4
Match Day 2: 1 v 3, 4 v 2
Match Day 3: 4 v 1, 2 v 3
Who will conduct the draw?
It has not been announced who will do the draw in Washington DC, but US President Donald Trump will join Fifa president Gianni Infantino at the event.
Thank you to Adrian from Lincolnshire for the question.
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