FIFA announced the final draw procedures for the 2026 World Cup , which will be held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, United States (US), on December 5.With less than 200 days until the 48-team tournament kicks off in Canada, Mexico and the US, the three host nations and 39 qualified teams have been drawn into four pots of 12 teams each, based on the FIFA Men's World Ranking released on November 19.
The two winners of the playoff tournament and the four winners of the European playoffs, which have not yet been determined, will be placed in pot 4.
The draw will begin with all teams from pot 1 being drawn into groups A to L. This process will then continue with pots 2, 3 and 4 in sequence, FIFA said.
Position A1 has been awarded to Mexico, B1 to Canada, and D1 to the USA, while the other nine top-ranked teams will automatically be placed in position 1 in their respective groups.
To ensure a balanced distribution of teams, the highest-ranked team (Spain) and the second-highest-ranked team (Argentina) will be randomly drawn into opposite lanes, and the same principle applies to the third-ranked (France) and fourth-ranked (England) teams.
In principle, no group may contain more than one team from the same confederation. This rule applies to all confederations except UEFA, which is represented by 16 teams. Each group must have at least one, but no more than two, UEFA teams drawn into it.
