After an intense week of qualification, the road to the FIFA World Cup 26 reaches a crucial milestone with the celebration of its final draw.
The event will take place on Friday, December 5, 2025. The drawing will take place at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.
To date, 42 of the 48 participating teams have already secured their place in the final phase.
These include hosts Canada, Mexico and the United States, as well as notable teams from the six confederations such as Argentina, Brazil, France, England, Japan and Senegal.
The remaining six places will be defined in March 2026. Four of them will come from the UEFA play-offs, in which 16 teams will participate, including Italy, Denmark and Wales.
The final two spots will be decided in the 26th FIFA World Cup Qualifying Tournament, contested by six teams, including Bolivia, Jamaica and Iraq.
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The 48 teams will be distributed into four pots of twelve teams each. The hosts (Canada, Mexico and the United States) top Pot 1.
These will be assigned to predefined positions in the groups: Mexico to A1, Canada to B1 and the United States to D1.
The remaining 39 qualified teams are distributed according to the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking published on November 19, 2025. The six pending places will be assigned to Pot 4.
The draw will begin with Pot 1 and will continue in order with Pots 2, 3 and 4. The main restrictions seek to guarantee competitive balance:
Confederative Restriction
No group will contain two teams from the same confederation, with the exception of UEFA, which will have a minimum of one and a maximum of two teams per group.
Cadre Restriction
A principle has been established to prevent the top four teams in the world rankings from facing each other before the semi-finals, assigning them to opposite teams.
Live coverage of the draw will be available via FIFA.com, FIFA World Cup social media channels and official FIFA broadcasters and media partners.
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