Where to watch the World Cup draw?

The draw for the 2026 World Cup will be held on Friday.

This tournament will be expanded for the first time with the participation of 48 teams from the 32 teams in Qatar and will also be the first World Cup hosted by three countries. The majority of the 104 games will be played in the United States (78 games), with Mexico and Canada hosting 13 games each.

With the final qualifying play-off stage confirmed, we’re one step closer to finding out exactly who England, Scotland and the rest will face in North America next year.

In the play-offs, Wales must overcome Bosnia and Herzegovina to host victorious Italy clash with Northern Ireland as they aim for a second successive World Cup. Meanwhile, the Republic of Ireland travel to the Czech Republic before a possible home game against either Denmark or North Macedonia.

The World Cup will begin on June 11, 2026 at Mexico’s historic Azteca Stadium, the scene of Brazil’s 1970 glory inspired by Pele and Argentina’s success in 1986 under Diego Maradona. It concludes with the final on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

Here’s everything you need to know.

When will the 2026 World Cup draw be held?

The draw for the 2026 World Cup will be held at 1 p.m 5pm GMT/12pm EST in Friday, December 5at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. US President Donald Trump is also expected to attend this meeting.

How to watch

To tune in to the draw, you can watch live in the UK on BBC Two or stream on the BBC Sport website and BBC iPlayer.

It will also be streamed live on YouTube and the FIFA website.

How will the World Cup draw be?

48 countries will be divided into 12 groups consisting of four teams, each from four pots.

Pot 1 includes the three host nations – the United States, Canada and Mexico – plus the top nine nations in the FIFA World Rankings who have qualified for the tournament. Currently, Mexico is in Group A, Canada in Group B and the United States of America in Group D.

Pots two, three and four contain the next 12 best-ranked teams so that, in theory, the groups are balanced and the best teams are separated until the knockout round.

Teams from a confederation will remain separate in the group stage, except for Europe where there are more teams (16) than groups. No group will have more than two European countries.

When will teams find out when and where their group stage matches are?

Opponents and match dates will be announced on Friday, December 5, but we will wait 24 hours before confirming venues and kick-off times.

With the exception of Mexico in Group A, Canada in Group B and the United States in Group D, all three teams have their own venues, but no start times.

Every other group will be informed of the dates and order of matches when FIFA unveils the fixture list on Saturday, December 6 at 17:00 GMT (12:00 local time).

All 48 teams in 12 groups will play their matches in the following order:

Game of the day 1: 1 on 2, 3 on 4

Game of the day 2: 1 on 3, 4 on 2

Game of the day 3: 4 v 1, 2 v 3

The 2026 World Cup draw pots have been confirmed

Now that we know the identity of 42 of the 48 teams heading to the World Cup, the four pots for the draw (with 12 teams each) are largely set. As mentioned above, Pot One consists of the three hosts (Mexico, Canada, and the United States, previously assigned to Pools A, B, and D, respectively), plus the next nine highest-ranked teams to form the other three pots.

FIFA has confirmed that the remaining six qualifying matches (four through the European play-offs and two through the inter-confederation play-offs), which will not be determined before the draw, will automatically be placed in Pot Four, as in previous World Cups.

Vase 1

Vase 2

Vase 3

Vase 4

How the new World Cup format works

The top two from each group will automatically qualify for the last 32, along with the eight best third-placed teams.

The ranking of the third teams is determined based on points, goal difference and then goals scored. If two or more teams are still tied, “team conduct scores” will come into play (a yellow card is minus one point, a red card with two yellow cards is minus three points, and a straight red card is minus four points). In case of a tie, the team with the highest world ranking will advance.

Who has qualified for the 2026 World Cup?

How are the World Cup places allocated?

Each continental confederation has a certain number of countries participating in the World Cup to determine the first 46 places. An inter-confederation playoff competition will then determine the remaining two spots.

UEFA (Europe): 16 points

CAF (Africa): 9 points

AFC (Asia): 8 points

Conmebol (South America): 6 points

CONCACAF (North America): 6 points (including three hosts)

OFC (Opacific): 1 point

one Inter-confederation playoffs It will be decided which other two teams qualify. Six nations will enter the play-offs: one from CAF, one from AFC, one from OFC, one from Conmebol and two from Concacaf, competing for the last two World Cup spots. Play-offs between confederations are held in March.