World Cup 2026 draw: which teams have qualified and how does it work?

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When does the World Cup draw take place?

The World Cup draw will start at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center at 12pm local time on Friday 5 December (5pm GMT/4am Saturday AEST). Although don’t worry if you tune in late: based on previous draws there will be a few speeches about Fifa being on the verge of bringing about world peace via the medium of football, some interpretive dance about Fifa being on the verge of bringing about world peace via the medium of football, some videos with kids kicking a ball about to show that Fifa is on the verge of bringing about world peace via the medium of football, and then, hopefully, Fifa actually bringing about world peace via the medium of football. And if you miss any of that, don’t worry Fifa will also be awarding a peace prize to the person most likely to bring about world peace in the next few months (more on that zinger later). At some point in all of that, they’ll place teams into groups and at long last give this expanded tournament an actual schedule.

And how does the actual draw work?

The 48 teams have been divided into four pots containing 12 teams each. Pot 1 consists of the three co-hosts – USA, Mexico and Canada – along with the nine top teams in the current Fifa rankings. The next three pots were decided by the Fifa rankings, with the lowest-ranked qualified teams in Pot 4. The 12 groups for the World Cup will then be formed by one team from each pot (full pots listed later).

Sounds simple!

Well, not quite. There are still six qualification places to be decided via playoffs in late March, and teams involved in those matches have been placed in Pot 4. That means a team such as Italy will be ostensibly the weakest opponents in a group, even though they have won the World Cup four times and are ranked No 12 in the world, should they come through the European qualifying playoffs. Teams from the same qualifying conference should, in theory, not be in the same group. But that is impossible for European teams as Uefa will have 16 teams in the draw. There will, though, be a maximum of two European teams in any group. In addition, the top four teams in the Fifa rankings – Spain, Argentina, France and England – cannot face each other until the semi-finals (of course, they have to make it there first), provided they win their groups.

Great, so I can start planning my viewing schedule once the draw is done?

Not so fast. Fifa is squeezing all it can out of this weekend and the match schedule will be released on Saturday 6 December. That’s so it can figure out which kick-off times and venues will work best for fans traveling to North America and those watching at home (for example, earlier kick-offs will be better for fans watching on TV in Europe).

And which teams have actually qualified?

So far, 42 teams have booked their place. Here are our qualifiers, grouped into the pots for the draw:

Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany.

Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia.

Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa.

Pot 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, four European playoff teams, two intercontinental playoff teams.

For a deeper look into how the qualifiers got here, you can peruse our in-depth guide:

Who is in the playoffs?

In the European playoffs, the winners of Wales v Bosnia and Herzegovina will host the winners of Italy v Northern Ireland for a place in the finals; the winners of Ukraine v Sweden will play the winners of Poland v Albania; the winners of Slovakia v Kosovo will be at home to the winners of Turkey v Romania; and the winners of the Czech Republic v Republic of Ireland will host the winners of Denmark v North Macedonia.

In the intercontinental playoffs, which will take place in Mexico, New Caledonia face Jamaica for the right to play DR Congo for a place in the finals, and the winners of Bolivia v Suriname will face Iraq for the other slot. The playoffs are all one-off matches.

Want to speculate on a Group of Death?

Sure, speculation is all we’ve got until the actual World Cup kicks off next year. Theoretically, Argentina, Morocco, Italy and Norway could be drawn together, which would put the teams ranked No 1, No 11, No 12 and No 29 in the world in the same group. And Norway, the lowest-ranked of those teams, won all eight of their qualifiers, scoring 37 goals along the way.

Who is going to do the actual draw?

The presenters have yet to be confirmed yet but the draw for Qatar 2022 was headed up by Idris Elba so possibly … someone with absolutely no connection to the host countries? There will almost certainly be lots of famous retired players who will shuffle on to the stage briefly for some awkward banter before drawing a ball out of a plastic globe.

Where can I follow it?

The best choice is the Guardian’s liveblog, which will be up and running here a couple of hours before the start of the ceremony. You can also watch the ceremony on Fifa’s website and its YouTube channel. In the UK, the draw will be broadcast on the BBC and BBC iPlayer, in the US it will be shown on Fox and Fubo, in Australia it will be on SBS and SBS On Demand and on TSN in Canada.

And what’s this all about the peace prize?

Ah yes. Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, has said: “In an increasingly unsettled and divided world, it’s fundamental to recognize the outstanding contribution of those who work hard to end conflicts and bring people together in a spirit of peace.” The prize will be awarded during Friday’s draw.

What a touching sentiment. I imagine the prize will go to a saintly nun or a cute dog that saved some orphans from a blazing building?

Well … rumor has it that it’s going to Infantino’s friend Donald Trump.

Wait. The guy who recently accused Democrats of ‘seditious behavior, punishable by death’?

Yep.

The one who said immigrants from Haiti – who just qualified for the World Cup in heroic fashion – eat pet dogs?

Yep.

That’s the guy!

Ah.

On a more positive note, the expanded World Cup draw – the 48 teams in this edition, up from 32 last time – means there is room for plucky teams with little chance of winning the trophy, such as Haiti, Curaçao, Cape Verde and England.