2026 World Cup draw: date, time, groups and format | OneFootball

The 2026 World Cup, which will be played in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, will take place between June 11 and July 19. The World Cup draw will be held on Friday, December 5 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., United States, starting at 2:00 p.m. Here we explain the format of the draw.

Format of the 2026 World Cup Draw

The 48 teams will be distributed into four different pots based on their position in the FIFA ranking. They will be drawn in such a way that each group has one country from each pot.

Twelve groups of four teams each will be formed, and the 48 teams qualified for the World Cup will be divided into four different pots according to their position in the world ranking of the governing body.

FIFA usually establishes rules to prevent teams from the same confederation from facing each other in the same group, except in the case of confederations with many participants, such as UEFA.

The United States, Mexico, and Canada will be assigned to different groups to ensure that each one plays matches in their own country during the group stage. In addition, the highest-ranked teams will be designated as group seeds, allowing them to avoid facing each other in the first phase.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.