World Cup Draw Pots 2026, List of Teams, Seeds and Format for Draw

The 2026 FIFA World Cup draw takes place on Friday afternoon in Washington, D.C.

Forty-two of the 48 participants for next summer's event in the United States, Canada and Mexico have been determined. The final six will be decided in various playoff matches in March.

Friday's draw will put the 48 participants into 12 groups of four.

The only known factor about the group stage so far is that Mexico resides in Group A, Canada sits in Group B and the United States was placed in Group D.

World Cup Pots

Pot 1: United States, Canada, Mexico, 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, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa

Pot 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, UEFA Playoff winner A, UEFA Playoff winner B, UEFA Playoff winner C, UEFA Playoff winner D, Intercontinental Playoff Winner A, Intercontinental Playoff Winner 2

The four pots of 12 teams were separated by the FIFA ranking of all non-host nations.

The United States, Mexico and Canada were placed in Pot 1 as the hosts alongside the nine best teams in the FIFA world rankings.

One team from each of the four pots will be placed into the 12 groups.

Six spots in Pot 4 currently serve as placeholders for the four UEFA playoff winners and the two intercontinental playoff winners.

No more than two European nations can be drawn together in the same group.

For example, if Spain from Pot 1 is joined by Croatia in Pot 2 in a group, then no more European squads can be in that specific group.

Teams from Africa, Asia, South America and North America can't be in the same group together.

That eliminates Panama from Pot 3 and Haiti and Curacao from Pot 4 as potential group-stage opponents for the United States, Canada and Mexico.

FIFA put in another restriction for the draw for the 2026 World Cup. Spain and Argentina, as well as France and England, will be on different pathways in the knockout round.

The goal of that is for the top four men's soccer teams to not play each other until the semifinal. That would only happen if all four teams win their respective groups.

The tournament begins on June 11 at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City with Mexico facing a to be determined opponent.

The group stage runs from June 11-27, the knockout stage begins with the round of 32 on June 28. The final is July 19 at MetLife Stadium.