The eagerly anticipated draw marks a crucial step in organizing the schedule for the most expansive World Cup ever.
WASHINGTON — On Friday, Washington, D.C. will host the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw, a pivotal event that will determine the initial matchups for next summer’s grand tournament stretching across North America.
With a record 48 teams participating, this World Cup will be unparalleled in scale, featuring matches held throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Here are the essential details you need to know.
The draw ceremony is slated to commence at 12 p.m. Eastern Time (11 a.m. Central, 9 a.m. Pacific) at the iconic John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
What time is the World Cup draw?
President Donald Trump is expected to attend, alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino. The event promises entertainment galore, with a star-studded lineup featuring model Heidi Klum, comedian Kevin Hart, and actor Danny Ramirez as co-hosts.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend the event alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino. There is also a celebrity-packed entertainment lineup to accompany the draw ceremony, with model Heidi Klum co-hosting alongside comedian Kevin Hart and actor Danny Ramirez.
The ceremony will determine the composition of 12 groups, with four teams assigned to each group for the tournament’s opening stage.
How to watch the 2026 World Cup draw
The draw will be shown live in the U.S. on FOX. It’ll also be streamed on FOX One, FOXSports.com and the FOX Sports App. It will also air on Telemundo, with programming running from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET.
The draw will also be available to watch and stream live online worldwide on FIFA’s official website and FIFA’s YouTube channel.
The full tournament schedule, including each match’s venue and kickoff time, is expected to be released by FIFA around noon ET Saturday, Dec. 6, the day after the draw.
Who is performing at the World Cup draw?
Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will perform alongside pop star Robbie Williams, who is appearing with Tony Award winner Nicole Scherzinger. Disco group Village People will close the ceremony with their anthem “Y.M.C.A.,” a favorite of President Trump, who is expected to attend the ceremony along with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
How does the World Cup draw work?
The draw ceremony assigns teams to groups based on a structured process designed to balance competitive fairness with geographic diversity.
All 48 teams are placed in pots based on their FIFA world ranking, with teams from each pot drawn into groups until there are 12 groups of four teams each. The process begins with teams from the highest-ranked pot and continues through each subsequent pot.
Groups labeled A through L can have no more than one team from each region, except for UEFA, Europe’s governing body. Each group must have at least one European team but no more than two.
Mexico, as the host nation playing in the first game of the tournament in Mexico City on June 11, has already been automatically placed in Group A. The United States has been assigned to Group D, while Canada occupies Group B.
FIFA has introduced a new system for the knockout stages that will keep the top four seeded teams from facing each other until at least the semifinals. This approach ensures Spain, Argentina, France and England cannot meet before the final four if they win their groups.
What are pots?
Pots are groupings of teams used to organize the draw and ensure competitive balance.
Of the 42 qualified countries, 39 are split into four pots as determined by the November 2025 FIFA Men’s World Rankings. The system works as follows:
Pot 1 contains the tournament’s top seeds: the three host nations (United States, Canada and Mexico), plus the nine highest-ranked qualified teams. This includes Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
Pot 2 features the next 12 highest-ranked teams, including Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria and Australia.
Pot 3 contains Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
Pot 4 includes Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, four European playoff placeholders and two intercontinental playoff placeholders.
The pot system prevents the strongest teams from facing each other in the group stage while distributing competitive matchups across all groups.
When is the 2026 World Cup?
The tournament unfolds from June 11 to July 19, 2026. The opening match is scheduled for June 11, 2026, at Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca, with the final held July 19, 2026, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The tournament will be the first World Cup co-hosted by three countries and the first to feature 48 teams, up from the traditional 32-team format used since 1998.
Matches will take place at 16 venues across the three host nations, with 104 total matches scheduled throughout the tournament.
2026 World Cup Schedule
Group stage: June 11–27
Round of 32: June 28–July 3
Quarterfinals: July 9–11
Third-place playoff: July 18
Which teams have qualified for the World Cup so far?
Forty-two teams have secured their places at the 2026 World Cup, with six spots remaining to be determined through playoff matches in March 2026.
Hosts (3 teams): United States, Canada, Mexico
Europe (12 teams): Austria, Belgium, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain and Switzerland
South America (6 teams): Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay
Africa (9 teams): Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia
Asia (8 teams): Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea
CONCACAF (3 teams): Panama, Curacao, Haiti
Oceania (1 team): New Zealand
Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan and Uzbekistan all qualified for the first time, with Curacao becoming the smallest nation by population ever to qualify.
What is the UEFA playoff?
The UEFA playoff determines the final four European teams that will qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
Sixteen European nations will compete. The field includes 12 teams that finished second in their World Cup qualifying groups, plus four additional teams that earned entry through their performance in the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League.
The playoff field includes some of Europe’s most prominent nations. Italy, Denmark, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine and Wales are among the 12 group runners-up, while Romania, Sweden, Northern Ireland and North Macedonia qualified via the Nations League route.
Unlike traditional two-leg playoff formats, these matches are single elimination.
Semifinal matches are scheduled for Mar. 26, 2026, and finals will be played on Mar. 31.
What is the intercontinental playoff?
The intercontinental playoff determines the final two World Cup berths from non-European teams.
Six teams will be placed in two separate, three-team brackets, with the highest-ranked teams getting a bye. The system creates two parallel competitions, each producing one World Cup qualifier.
In each bracket, the two lower-ranked sides face off in a semifinal, with the winner advancing to face the top-seeded team in the final. All matches are single-elimination with no return legs.
Jamaica will take on New Caledonia, with the winner facing the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the final, while Bolivia and Suriname will play for the right to face Iraq.
The intercontinental playoffs are scheduled for March 23-31, with all four matches played in Mexico at the Estadio Akron in Guadalajara and Estadio BBVA in Monterrey.
