The draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be held on December 5, 2025, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., United States. It will set the stage for the round-robin group stage in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, where the World Cup will be played. The teams are divided into four pots of twelve, with one team selected from each pot to form a group.
As hosts, Mexico, Canada, and the United States are seeded. They will take positions A1, B1, and D1 respectively from Pot 1, where they are joined by the top nine qualified teams in the FIFA rankings. The countries occupying positions 13 to 24 on the ranking of the qualified teams are allocated to Pot 2, while the 25th to 36th best-ranked qualifiers are placed in Pot 3. Finally, Pot 4 includes the qualified teams in positions 37 to 42, plus six placeholders – two for the winners of the inter-confederation play-offs, and four for the winners of the European play-offs. [1] These play-offs are scheduled to be played in March 2026, with the final six teams to qualify on March 31, 2026. [2]
The 42 known teams are seeded based on the FIFA Men's World Ranking of November 19, 2025 (shown in parentheses). [3] The six unknown placeholders representing the play-off winners were automatically placed in Pot 4. [4]
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
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Two teams from the same confederation cannot be placed in the same group, with the exception of UEFA for which there must be at least one but no more than two teams in each group. The confederation restriction will apply to all three potential winners of the inter-confederation playoffs. FIFA also announced that, "in the interest of ensuring competitive balance", two separate pathways to the semifinals (sides of the knockout bracket) were established. Based on this, the teams ranked first (Spain) and second (Argentina) in the ranking will be randomly drawn into groups in opposite pathways, as will the teams ranked third (France) and fourth (England). Therefore, should these pairs of teams win their groups, they will be unable to meet until the final, while all four will be unable to meet until the semifinals.
The draw will start with Pot 1, where the three co-hosts will be identified by different colored balls and placed in pre-defined positions as per the match schedule. The remaining nine teams in Pot 1 will be identified by nine balls of the same color and automatically allocated to position 1 of the group into which they are drawn. For pots 2, 3 and 4, each team's group position will be determined according to a predefined allocation pattern, which was published by FIFA as a part of the draw procedures. [5] [6]
The twelve groups will be formed randomly, selecting one team from each of the four pots. The three hosts' positions in the draw was predetermined – Mexico in A1, Canada in B1, and the United States in D1. Unlike previous editions, the position of unseeded teams in each group was also predetermined as opposed to being randomly drawn.
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
|---|---|---|---|
 Mexico |  Canada | Pot 1 team |  United States |
| Pot 3 team | Pot 4 team | Pot 2 team | Pot 3 team |
| Pot 2 team | Pot 3 team | Pot 4 team | Pot 2 team |
| Pot 4 team | Pot 2 team | Pot 3 team | Pot 4 team |
| Group E | Group F | Group G | Group H |
| Pot 1 team | Pot 1 team | Pot 1 team | Pot 1 team |
| Pot 4 team | Pot 2 team | Pot 3 team | Pot 4 team |
| Pot 3 team | Pot 4 team | Pot 2 team | Pot 3 team |
| Pot 2 team | Pot 3 team | Pot 4 team | Pot 2 team |
| Group I | Group J | Group K | Group L |
| Pot 1 team | Pot 1 team | Pot 1 team | Pot 1 team |
| Pot 2 team | Pot 3 team | Pot 4 team | Pot 2 team |
| Pot 4 team | Pot 2 team | Pot 3 team | Pot 4 team |
| Pot 3 team | Pot 4 team | Pot 2 team | Pot 3 team |
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