Where and when does the FIFA World Cup 2026 draw take place?

As anticipation builds ahead of Friday's World Cup draw, football writer Ben Bloom looks at all the key points you need to know.
The World Cup draw will take place on Friday, 5 December, at 17:00 GMT (12:00 local time). It will be held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, United States. While the overall show will last longer, the draw itself is expected to take around 45 minutes to complete.
Which countries have qualified?
For the first time, the World Cup has been expanded to a 48-team tournament. So far, 42 nations have secured their places, representing six different regional confederations: AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North America, Central America, Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oceania) and UEFA (Europe).
There are 22 nations still in the running to claim one of the six remaining places. Four of those spots will be determined through the UEFA playoffs, with the other two assigned via FIFA’s inter-continental playoffs.
The 42 teams who have already qualified are:
Co-hosts: Canada, Mexico, United States
AFC: Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Uzbekistan
CAF: Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia
CONCACAF: Curacao, Haiti, Panama
CONMEBOL: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay
OFC: New Zealand
UEFA: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland
How are the countries split for the draw?
All 48 countries (the 42 that have already qualified, plus the six unclaimed playoff spots) have been divided into four pots of 12 teams according to the FIFA world rankings.
Co-hosts Canada, Mexico and the United States will be allocated to pot 1, alongside the highest-ranked nations. All six playoff winners will be placed in pot 4.
Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, United States, 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, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
Pot 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, 4 x UEFA playoff winners, 2 x FIFA inter-continental playoff winners
How does the draw process work?
The draw will begin with all 12 teams from pot 1 drawn sequentially into 12 World Cup groups lettered A to L. It is already known that Mexico will be assigned to position A1, Canada to B1 and the United States to D1.
The remaining nine top-ranked teams in pot 1 will be allocated position 1 of the group into which they are drawn. Once those 12 teams have been placed, the draw will continue through the same process for the teams in pot 2, 3 and 4.
No group may have more than one team from the same confederation – for example, Brazil and Argentina cannot be placed in the same group. This ruling applies to all confederations except UEFA, which is represented by 16 teams. As there are 12 groups, each group will feature at least one European team but no more than two.
As we do not yet know which confederations the winners of FIFA's playoffs will be from, restrictions will apply to all three teams within each of the two playoff pathways.
What that means is the placeholder for the FIFA playoff 1 winner (featuring New Caledonia, Jamaica and DR Congo) cannot be drawn into a group with CONCACAF or African teams. The FIFA playoff 2 winner (featuring Bolivia, Suriname and Iraq) will avoid South American, CONCACAF and Asian teams.
Are there any other constraints?
Yes, for the first time ever at a World Cup, FIFA have opted to keep the top four highest-ranked nations apart in separate pathways, ensuring that – should they all win their groups – they will not meet each other until at least the semi-finals.
That means Spain (1) and Argentina (2) will be paired and placed on opposite sides of the draw, with the same applying to France (3) and England (4).
When will the playoffs be completed?
All the playoff fixtures consist of one leg and will be played in March 2026.
The UEFA playoff teams have been divided into four pathways, each featuring two semi-finals and a final.
Path A semi-finals
Italy v Northern Ireland
Wales v Bosnia-Herzegovina*
Path B semi-finals
Ukraine v Sweden*
Poland v Albania
Path C semi-finals
Turkey v Romania
Slovakia v Kosovo*
Path D semi-finals
Denmark v North Macedonia
Czech Republic v Republic of Ireland*
*Winners of the asterisked semi-finals on 26 March will be at home in the final on 31 March.
The six teams in the FIFA inter-continental playoffs were divided into two pathways, with DR Congo and Iraq given byes to the finals based on their status as the two highest-ranked playoff nations.
Path 1
Semi-final: New Caledonia v Jamaica
Final: DR Congo v winners of above semi-final
Path 2
Semi-final: Bolivia v Suriname
Final: Iraq v winners of above semi-final
When will World Cup venues and timings be determined?
Although Friday’s draw will determine the composition of each group, it will not be until Saturday, 6 December, that full details are confirmed, namely the finalised match schedule, kick-off times and locations of each match.
The only exceptions are groups A (Mexico), B (Canada) and D (United States), which contain the three co-hosts and have been guaranteed to play all their matches at certain stadiums within their home countries.
What is the format of the World Cup?
The World Cup’s opening stage consists of 12 groups of four teams, who play each fellow member of their group once. The top two teams in each group qualify for the knockout stage, which begins with a round of 32.
As eight additional teams are required to make up this new round – taking place at a World Cup for the first time – all 12 third-placed teams from the group stage will be ranked, with the top eight progressing.
From there, the tournament follows a conventional knockout format of round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
The tournament will begin on 11 June and conclude with the final at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on 19 July.
Which Premier League players will take part?
Of the 42 countries who are already guaranteed a place at the World Cup, 35 have players registered with clubs in this season’s Premier League.