FIFA Announces their Procedures and Four Pots for the 2026 World Cup Draw

Who will be placed where in our Nation’s Capital

Zurich, Switzerland- On Tuesday, November 25th, FIFA has just announced the procedures for the 2026 FIFA World Cup Draw, which will be performed on Early Friday Afternoon, December 5th, at the Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts. All of soccer’s royalty from across the globe, along with the 42 qualified teams and the possible six who will go through the intercontinental playoffs and the European playoffs to complete the field.

Four Pots are prepared for all qualified teams

As of right now, 42 qualified teams will await to see who they will be drawn with for the twelve groups in the new 48 team tournament. Four pots listed from numbers one through four will be placed in different positions based on their rankings issued on Wednesday, November 19th, and separated due to their respective confederations, except for UEFA (Europe).

Here are the National Teams who will be placed in all four pots, including those in the Intercontinental playoffs and UEFA Playoffs.

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, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa,

POT 4: Jordan, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, European Playoffs A, B, C, & D Winners, FIFA Playoff Tournament Winners 1 & 2.

Procedures for group placement

POT 1: As the Tri-Hosts, Canada, Mexico & the USA will be placed in Position A. They will each have a different colored ball from the others in Pot 1. Mexico will be placed in Group A1 with a Green Ball, Canada will be placed in Group B1 with a Red Ball, and then the USA will skip Group C and start in Group D1 with a Blue Ball. Then, from Group C all the way to Group L, all the balls from the top-ranked nations will fill in.

Making sure there is competitive balance for the top four-ranked teams from Pot A, Spain, Argentina, France, and England, will be placed in four separate pathways. If these teams win their groups, they won’t meet until they get toward the Finals

Pots 2, 3 & 4: The rest of the teams will be selected in their respective groups, going one at a time. The only time they would have to move one team to a different group is if there are multiple teams from the same confederation, except UEFA. IF Curacao is in the same group as Canada, Mexico, or the USA, then they would skip to a separate group and place them there.

The two teams that will qualify from the Intercontinental playoffs will be placed in Pot 4. For them to comply with FIFA’s general principle to make sure that no group has more than one team from the same confederation drawn, the confederation constraint will be applied to all three teams within each pathway of the two FIFA Play-Off Tournament placeholders.

Where to watch the draw

If you can’t get to the Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, you can watch the entire draw on FOX Sports on your FOX National Station. With Rob Stone, Jenny Taft, Alexi Lalas, and Stu Holden on Spanish-language Television, NBC’s Telemundo hosted by Andres Cantor.

FIFA World Cup News:

• FIFA Announces the Dates for Intercontinental Playoffs
• From Baba Yaga to the Golden Generation: How the 1994 World Cup USA Roster Compares to Today’s USMNT Stars
• The Good and the Bad for Scoreless Draws in CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

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