FIFA has introduced a new system for the 2026 World Cup finals tournament that will see the top four seeds avoid each other until at least the semi-finals of the 48-team tournament next summer.
With a style of tennis similar to that adopted by FIFA at last summer’s Club World Cup, the top two teams in the current FIFA rankings, Spain (1st) and Argentina (2nd), will go on a reverse draw route, as will France and England in 3rd and 4th places, to ensure competitive balance.
As a result, the four countries will be placed in different quadrants of the knockout phase and divided into pots. England will therefore avoid European champions Spain and world champions Argentina until the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, France, who defeated the Three Lions in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup, will not be able to face Thomas Tuchel’s side until the final.
How does the pot work?
The top seeds are England in pot 1 and Scotland in pot 3. That means England and Scotland could be drawn in the group stage.
However, each group can have a maximum of two European teams, so if England draws their European opponents from pot 2, Scotland will not be drawn with England.
Play-off hopefuls Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Wales are in Pot 4 (see European Play-Offs A, B and C below), with Northern Ireland and Wales vying for one spot in Play-Off Path A.
Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany
Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia
Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
Pot 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, European Playoffs A, B, C, D, FIFA Playoffs Tournaments 1 and 2
What does this mean for the World Cup draw?
The draw for the final tournament will take place on December 5th at 5pm UK time in Washington DC.
US President Donald Trump will decide the group stage brackets with FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the John F. Kennedy Center, the performing arts venue where Trump is chairman. The drawing will take 45 to 50 minutes, with a total show time of approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes.
First, all teams in pot 1 are assigned to groups A through L. Then pots 2, 3, and 4 follow.
For pots 2, 3, and 4, each team’s group standing is determined according to a predefined allocation pattern. A team’s position within a group is determined by the pot it is drawn from and the group it is drawn into.
As a general rule, no group will have more than one team from the same federation. This applies to all federations except UEFA, which is represented by 16 teams. Each group must include at least one and maximum of two UEFA teams.
For the two FIFA Playoff Tournament placeholders, in compliance with FIFA’s general principle of not having more than one team from the same federation in any group, the federation constraints apply to all three teams in each path of the two FIFA Playoff Tournament placeholders in Pot 4.
Pathway 1, an inter-confederation play-off that includes New Caledonia, Jamaica and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, does not allow players to be placed in groups with Concacaf teams or African teams. Meanwhile, Route 2, consisting of Bolivia, Suriname, and Iraq, must avoid South America, Concaf, and Asia.
When announcing the lottery venue at the White House in August, President Trump said the World Cup was “the biggest event in sports,” while Infantino declared the 104 games would be like “the 104th Super Bowl.”
Who has already qualified for the World Cup?
So far, 42 teams have qualified for the 2026 World Cup, and the list is below.
2026 World Cup Match Schedule
The full match list, including group games and kick-off times, will be available after the draw, but FIFA has already announced the key dates and confirmed that the opening match will be held in Mexico City.
The final draw will determine which teams will face each other in the group stage, but the latest match schedule, including the stadiums allocated to each match and their respective kick-off times, will be confirmed on Saturday 6th December.
The final game will be held at New York/New Jersey (MetLife) Stadium, home of the New York Giants and New York Jets.
Group Stage: June 11th-27th
Round of 32: June 28th to July 3rd
Round 16: July 4-7
Quarterfinals: July 9th-11th
Semi-finals: July 14th-15th
3rd place match (“Bronze Final”): July 18th
Last day: July 19th
