World Cup Draw 2026 Date, Start Time, TV Schedule, Live Stream and More

The path to the World Cup final for 48 participants will be determined on Friday.

The only known thing about the 2026 World Cup prior to Friday's draw is which groups the host countries are in.

Mexico headlines Group A, Canada is in Group B and the United States resides in Group D.

Forty-two countries have already qualified for next summer's tournament. Six more nations will enter the field through playoffs held in March.

World Cup Draw Info

Date: Friday, December 5

Start Time: Noon ET

TV: Fox

Live Stream: Fox One app and FoxSports.com

Mexico will open the World Cup on June 11 at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.

El Tri will play a team drawn from Pot 3 in their opener.

Canada begins its World Cup journey on June 12 at BMO Field in Toronto and the United States starts play the same day at Sofi Stadium.

The USMNT will play all of its group games on the west coast. It plays its opener and group finale at Sofi Stadium, while the second group game takes place in Seattle.

The full World Cup schedule can be found here on FIFA.com.

The possibilities are endless for the USMNT's potential opponents. The only teams it can't be drawn with are Panama, Haiti and Curacao because they come from the same confederation.

With Haiti and Curacao in Pot 4, the USMNT is limited to Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, New Zealand and the six playoff winners as potential opponents from that pot.

The 48 participants have been separated into four pots of 12 teams. The highest-ranked teams in the world plus the three hosts reside in Pot 1.

Spain and Argentina, as well as France and England will be placed in different parts of the draw to ensure they don't play each other until the semifinals, provided that each of the top-four ranked teams in the world win their respective groups.

Europe is the only confederation that can have two of its teams in the same group. Europe received 16 total World Cup berths. Twelve of those squads are already qualified. Four more will be decided through playoffs.

Pots 3 and 4 have teams that are all ranked below 25th in the FIFA World Rankings, but there are some dangerous squads in those pots.

Norway, with Erling Haaland up top, might be the most concerning Pot 3 for any of the top teams to draw. Norway is capable of springing an upset in any match with Haaland in the form he's in.

A dream draw for the USMNT would involve Australia, the lowest-ranked team in Pot 2, South Africa, the lowest-ranked team in Pot 3 and a European playoff winner from Pot 4.

The draw likely won't be that favorable for Mauricio Pochettino's side. It'll be probably be somewhere in the middle in terms of difficulty, but there are teams it would like to avoid.

For example, the Americans would not be pleased with a group that includes Norway, Colombia or Uruguay from Pot 2 and Ghana out of Pot 4.

The same can be said for Mexico and Canada, who like the USMNT, want to go as far at their home World Cup as possible.

Thirty-two teams, the 12 group winners, 12 second-place teams and eight best third-place teams, will advance to the knockout round in the 48-team World Cup.

The World Cup final is scheduled for July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.