With fewer than 200 days to go until the start of the first-ever 48-team FIFA World Cup™, the procedures for determining the composition of the tournament’s 12 groups of four have been confirmed. One of the most thrilling milestones on the road to the FIFA World Cup, the Final Draw will bring together coaches and officials from all qualified teams — and those still in contention — on Friday, December 5, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, where they will discover their opponents in pursuit of ultimate glory.
The Final Draw procedures stipulate that the hosts Canada, Mexico, and the USA will be allocated to pot 1, and the 39 remaining qualified teams will be allocated to the four pots of 12 teams each according to the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking issued on Wednesday, 19 November 2025. Lastly, the two FIFA World Cup 2026 Play-Off Tournament placeholders, as well as the four European play-off placeholders, will be allocated to pot 4.
Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany
Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, IR Iran, Korea Republic, Ecuador, Austria, Australia
Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
Pot 4: Jordan, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, European Play-offs A, B, C, and D, FIFA Play-Off Tournament 1 and 2.
The draw will begin with all the teams from pot 1 being drawn to groups A to L. It will then continue with pots 2, 3, and 4 in that order.
Draw Constraints
For pot 1, Canada, Mexico and the USA, as the host countries, will be identified by different coloured balls and, when drawn, will be assigned to position A1 for Mexico (green ball), B1 for Canada (red ball) and D1 for the USA (blue ball), as already established per the match schedule released on 4 February 2024. The remaining nine top-ranked teams in pot 1 will be identified by nine balls of the same colour and automatically allocated to position 1 of the group into which they are drawn.
To ensure competitive balance, two separate pathways to the semi-finals have been established when developing the match schedule. In order to have a balanced distribution of the teams, the four highest-ranked teams in the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking, when drawn, will have the following constraints: the highest-ranked team (Spain) and the second highest-ranked team (Argentina) will be randomly drawn into opposite pathways, and the same principle will apply to the third (France) and fourth (England) highest-ranked teams. This will ensure that, should they win their groups, the two highest-ranked teams will not meet before the final.
For pots 2, 3, and 4, each team’s group position will be determined according to a predefined allocation pattern. This pattern is detailed in the table included in the draw procedures document. A team’s position within the group will then be determined by the pot from which they are drawn and by the group into which they are drawn. I
No group will have more than one team from the same confederation drawn into it. This applies to all confederations except UEFA, which is represented by 16 teams. Each group must have at least one, but no more than two UEFA teams drawn into it.
For the two FIFA Play-Off Tournament placeholders, in order to comply with FIFA’s general principle to ensure that no group has more than one team from the same confederation drawn into it, the confederation constraint will be applied to all three teams within each pathway of the two FIFA Play-Off Tournament placeholders in pot 4.
Venues and Kick-Off Times
FIFA will unveil the updated match schedule for the FIFA World Cup 2026™ in a live global broadcast on Saturday, December 6, at 12:00 PM/EST (18:00 CET), from Washington, DC. This will take place exactly 24 hours after the tournament’s highly anticipated Final Draw.
Unveiled by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who will be joined on stage by FIFA Legends, and in the audience, by representatives of all 42 qualified teams as well as those still in contention, the reveal show promises to be one of the most significant moments on the road to 2026. Throughout the show, expert insights and reactions will be offered, breaking down the match-ups, analysing key storylines, and providing perspectives on the host venues that will welcome the world in June and July next year.
During the live broadcast, the venues and kick-off times for all 104 matches will be confirmed. The broadcast will be carried live across FIFA platforms, including FIFA.com and FIFA’s YouTube channel, so fans worldwide can follow the announcements in real time.
You can watch the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final Draw on FOX, FOXSports.com, the FOX Sports App, FIFA.com, and FIFA+. Coverage in the US begins at 11:30 a.m. ET on FOX, with the official draw expected between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. ET on Friday, December 5.