The 2026 FIFA World Cup is building excitement with less than eight months to go before the biggest edition in history begins, featuring a 48-team competition. With the draw just two weeks away, FIFA has announced the official format, team pots, and the timeline for releasing the full match schedule.
National teams will learn their pathway on Friday, December 5, when the Initial Draw takes place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. This final draw, will determine which teams play each other in the group stage, but the updated match schedule, including the stadium assigned to each match and the respective kick-off time will be confirmed the following day on Saturday, December 6.
In the Final Draw, host nations USA, Canada, and Mexico will be placed in Pot 1, while the remaining 39 qualified teams will be placed into four pots of 12 teams each based on the FIFA World Ranking. The six remaining slots—two from the intercontinental playoffs and four from the European playoffs—will all be placed in Pot 4.
Along with the draw procedures for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, several constraints will also be taken into account. First, Mexico, Canada, and the USA will be represented by green, red, and blue balls respectively, and will be allocated to positions A1, B1, and D1 in that order.
The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
Other constraints will involve the usual rules, such as no national teams from the same confederation being drawn into the same group, with the exception of UEFA. who’ll have 16 representatives. This means that 4 of the 12 groups will feature at least two European nations, while the remaining groups will each include only one.
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National Team Pots for the 2026 World Cup
Based on the latest FIFA World Ranking update (November 19), the pots are as follows:
- 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-Off A, B, C and D, FIFA Play-Off Tournament 1 and 2.
