The draw for the 2026 World Cup finals takes place on Friday, 5 December, and it’s far more complex than simply picking balls out of a pot. With pots, quadrants, seeding rules and confederation restrictions, FIFA is relying heavily on its computers to avoid chaos.
“This year’s draw could be one of the most complicated in World Cup history.”
The event begins at 17:00 GMT in Washington and includes musical performances, speeches from FIFA president Gianni Infantino and US president Donald Trump, plus appearances by celebrities like Heidi Klum and Kevin Hart.
Former England defender Rio Ferdinand will conduct the official draw.
How the Seeding & Group Formation Works
The 48 teams are split into four pots of 12, based mostly on FIFA rankings. The hosts — Mexico (A1), Canada (B1) and the United States (D1) — are automatically placed in Pot 1 with fixed group positions.
FIFA has also introduced a new rule to keep the top four ranked teams — Spain, Argentina, France, and England — in separate quadrants of the knockout bracket, as long as they win their groups. This is designed to maximise high-profile matchups in the later stages.
“The goal is to avoid early heavyweight clashes and create blockbuster knockout ties.”
Confederation Restrictions
No group can have more than one team from the same confederation, except Europe, which can have two. This becomes tricky when assigning play-off winners, especially Pathway 2 (Bolivia, Iraq, Suriname), which has strict placement limitations to avoid draw deadlocks.
Pot-by-Pot Process
Teams are placed into groups alphabetically, respecting all constraints. Seeded teams automatically go into position one, while all other pot positions are pre-assigned, meaning fixture order is already set.
After the Draw
Teams will immediately know their opponents and match dates, but venues and kick-off times will be announced the following day. Only the host nations’ groups already have confirmed stadiums.
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