FIFA World Cup Draw: Everything you need to know
(CNN) — The FIFA men’s World Cup is only played once every four years, and it is arguably the most eagerly anticipated event in all of sports.
The United States, Canada and Mexico have known they will be co-hosting the 2026 tournament since 2018, but it’s only as the draw comes into focus at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC that it’s going to start feeling real to fans all over the world.
An expanded 48-team competition, up from 32, will be different to anything we’ve ever seen before and since the group stage draw is now upon us, some other storylines which have been bubbling underneath the surface will soon burst into view.
Who’s playing? And who isn’t?
Of the 48 teams involved, 42 have secured their place in the tournament. Six more spots to soccer’s greatest spectacle will be determined in a series of playoff matches next spring. In the meantime, they’ll be drawn as placeholders: European Playoff winner A, B, C, D and FIFA Playoff winner 1 and 2.
Argentina will return as the defending champion, having comfortably topped its CONMEBOL qualifying group in South America. The 2018 champion France – who only lost the 2022 final on penalties – also looks strong. Defending European champion Spain is fancied to do well, as is defeated European finalist England.
Morocco will be worth keeping an eye on; by reaching the semifinal in 2022, it is Africa’s most successful World Cup team ever. The Atlas Lions totally dominated their qualifying group and could be destined to go even further next year.
Scotland, Norway and Austria last played in the World Cup in 1998, and all three will be returning after an absence of almost three decades. Haiti has qualified for the first time since 1974.
There will be at least four first timers at this year’s edition. Jordan and Uzbekistan from Asia, the tiny African island nation of Cape Verde and the even tinier Curaçao from the Caribbean – with a population of about 156,000 people, the smallest ever nation to appear in a World Cup. Further debutants like New Caledonia or Suriname could emerge from the intercontinental playoffs, while Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia would be rookies if they could make it out of the European playoffs.
Shockingly, Nigeria, one of the African powerhouses, failed to qualify. And if the four-time champion Italy can’t make it through the playoffs, then the Azzurri will have failed to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup.
How will the draw work?
The 48 teams will be drawn into 12 groups of four teams. Based on the latest FIFA rankings, the teams have been arranged into four pots, with each team from Pot 1 being drawn into one of the 12 groups, followed by each team from Pot 2 being drawn into one of the groups and so on.
The three co-hosts are considered top seeds and so they will avoid Spain, Argentina, England, France, Portugal, Netherlands, Brazil, Belgium and Germany. Mexico (A) Canada (B) and USA (D) already know which groups they will be drawn into, and they know the venues for their three group games.
There can only be two teams from European confederation UEFA in each group, and no other confederation can have more than one team in a group.
Once the draw is complete, the teams and their fans can map out potential routes to the final, with a better sense of the 16 host cities they might visit along the way.
What could the US’ draw look like?
With more than 20,000 group stage scenarios possible for every team, it’s pointless trying to guess how the draw will play out. But, in theory, the US men’s national team (USMNT) could draw Australia – the weakest team on paper in Pot 2 – South Africa would be the quote-unquote easiest opponent in Pot 3, avoiding tougher European or African opponents, and world No. 86 New Zealand would be a plum draw from Pot 4.
Conversely, a nightmare scenario could result in a draw against either Morocco or Croatia from Pot 2, both of whom made the semifinals in 2022 and the Vatreni also featured in the 2018 final, losing to France.
Norway is the heavyweight team in Pot 3 and a squad nobody would want to face – particularly with prolific striker Erling Haaland starring for the team – and despite their ranking of world No. 72, Ghana from Pot 4 could cause a few sleepless nights for the Americans. The two teams have run into each other three times at the World Cup in the last 20 years and the Black Stars beat the USMNT in 2006 and 2010.
Who will be the biggest star?
The usual suspects are already lining up and two of them will make history.
Argentina’s Lionel Messi will turn 39 during the tournament and Cristiano Ronaldo will be 41 by the time it kicks off; despite their advancing years both are still on top of their game and will be appearing in a record sixth World Cup tournament.
Manchester City star Haaland’s World Cup debut will be eagerly anticipated – he scored more goals in qualifying (16) than 33 European teams – and Lamine Yamal’s debut could also be spectacular. He’s still only 18, he’s been smashing records ever since he burst onto the international scene as a 16-year-old in 2023, and he’s already a European champion with Spain.
Keep an eye out for the French captain Kylian Mbappé, too, he’ll only be 27 and looking to play in his third consecutive World Cup final.
But perhaps the most visible figure at this tournament won’t be featuring heavily on the pitch. It might instead be the US president.
Donald Trump’s presence
President Donald Trump takes credit for securing the World Cup bid during his first presidency in 2018 and it’s rarely been far from his mind since he returned to the Oval Office in January.
Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino seem to have become fast friends – Infantino has been to the White House half a dozen times, and he even accompanied Trump to Cairo for the signing of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Within weeks of Trump learning that he’d been overlooked for the Nobel Peace Prize, Infantino announced that the global soccer governing body would be creating its own FIFA Peace Prize and awarding it for the first time at the draw. Trump is widely expected to win the award, even as he threatens Venezuela with war and, last month, said he’d be “proud” to bomb drug cartels operating in tournament co-host Mexico. He’s previously often referred to the other tournament co-host, Canada, as the “51st state.”
Trump has attended numerous sporting events this year, from the Super Bowl to the Ryder Cup, the US Open men’s tennis final and the Daytona 500. He presented the Chelsea squad with FIFA’s Club World Cup trophy in July and seemed reluctant to leave the stage as the players began to celebrate, and he invited the Juventus team to the White House and asked if a woman could make their team.
Trump is using major sports events to keep himself in the spotlight and to further his own political agenda. Expect him to be prominently involved in the tournament next year.
The politics
Allegations of human rights abuses plagued the previous hosts Russia and Qatar and now advocates for human and civil rights abuses have the United States in their crosshairs too.
Those advocates have raised the possibility of supposedly undocumented immigrants – or visiting fans from abroad – being detained and deported without due process. Such fears could well deter some supporters from traveling to any of the 78 games that will be played in the 11 US cities.
That’s assuming they can find an affordable ticket and secure a visa to travel – the prices so far have been significantly higher than previous World Cups and the lengthy waiting times have forced the government to say they will fast-track the visa application process for fans hoping to attend.
As a potential foreshadowing, the Iranian delegation, including federation President Mehdi Taj, said it would boycott the draw because some of its key personnel were not granted visas before ultimately reversing its decision with an Iran Football Federation spokesperson telling Iranian state media Tasnim that head coach Amir Ghalenoei would attend as its technical representative. Fans from nations caught up in Trump’s travel ban will also not be able to attend the games, namely Iran and Haiti.
The draw should finalize the tournament bracket and the host venue for each game, but as recently as last month Trump was still musing on what it would take to move games from cities that he deems to be unsafe.
It’s more likely that Trump is leveraging the World Cup to pressure mayors and governors in cities and states whose policies he doesn’t like, especially since FIFA has previously indicated it has ultimate say whether a host city is changed. But fans thinking of spending thousands of dollars to travel to Boston, Los Angeles or Seattle, for example, might think twice if they are concerned that the games will end up being played elsewhere.
The-CNN-Wire
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