2026 World Cup Draw match thread (146 replies)
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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, Côte d’Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa.
Pot 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, four European playoff teams, two intercontinental playoff teams.
How does the draw work?
The 48 teams have been divided into four pots containing 12 teams each. Pot 1 consists of the three co-hosts – USA, Mexico and Canada – along with the nine top teams in the current Fifa rankings. The next three pots were decided by the Fifa rankings, with the lowest-ranked qualified teams in Pot 4. The 12 groups for the World Cup will then be formed by one team from each pot (full pots listed later).
It can’t be that simple, eh?
No. There are still six qualification places to be decided via playoffs in late March, and teams involved in those matches have been placed in Pot 4. That means a team such as Italy will be ostensibly the weakest opponents in a group, even though they have won the World Cup four times and are ranked No 12 in the world, should they come through the European qualifying playoffs.
Teams from the same qualifying conference should, in theory, not be in the same group. But that is impossible for European teams as Uefa will have 16 teams in the draw. There will, though, be a maximum of two European teams in any group. In addition, the top four teams in the Fifa rankings – Spain, Argentina, France and England – cannot face each other until the semi-finals (of course, they have to make it there first), provided they win their groups.
[www.bbc.co.uk]
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, Côte d’Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa.
Pot 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, four European playoff teams, two intercontinental playoff teams.
How does the draw work?
The 48 teams have been divided into four pots containing 12 teams each. Pot 1 consists of the three co-hosts – USA, Mexico and Canada – along with the nine top teams in the current Fifa rankings. The next three pots were decided by the Fifa rankings, with the lowest-ranked qualified teams in Pot 4. The 12 groups for the World Cup will then be formed by one team from each pot (full pots listed later).
It can’t be that simple, eh?
No. There are still six qualification places to be decided via playoffs in late March, and teams involved in those matches have been placed in Pot 4. That means a team such as Italy will be ostensibly the weakest opponents in a group, even though they have won the World Cup four times and are ranked No 12 in the world, should they come through the European qualifying playoffs.
Teams from the same qualifying conference should, in theory, not be in the same group. But that is impossible for European teams as Uefa will have 16 teams in the draw. There will, though, be a maximum of two European teams in any group. In addition, the top four teams in the Fifa rankings – Spain, Argentina, France and England – cannot face each other until the semi-finals (of course, they have to make it there first), provided they win their groups.