The 2026 FIFA World Cup pots have been decided for December 5’s attract Washington, D.C.
Host nations; The USA, Mexico, and Canada shall be in Pot 1 together with 9 extra nations. These embrace Spain, Argentina, France and England.
All groups from Pot 1 shall be drawn between Teams A-L earlier than Pots 2, 3, and 4 shall be repeatedly drawn to these respective teams.
FIFA has established two separate pathways to the semifinal spherical. So as to have a balanced distribution of the groups, the 4 highest-ranked groups within the FIFA Males’s Rating, when drawn, could have the next constraints: the highest-ranked staff (Spain) and the second highest-ranked staff (Argentina) shall be randomly drawn into reverse pathways, and the identical precept will apply to the third (France) and fourth (England) highest-ranked groups. This may be certain that, ought to they win their teams, the 2 highest-ranked groups is not going to meet earlier than the ultimate.
For pots 2, 3 and 4, every staff’s group place shall be decided in line with a predefined allocation sample. A staff’s place throughout the group will then be decided by the pot from which they’re drawn and by the group into which they’re drawn.
In precept, no group could have a couple of staff from the identical confederation drawn into it, aside from UEFA nations as a result of having 16 representatives. Every group should have at the least one, however not more than two UEFA groups drawn into it.
The confederation constraint may also be utilized to all of the profitable groups that qualify via the Inter-Confederation Playoffs.
An up to date match schedule, together with the stadium assigned to every match and the respective kick-off time, shall be confirmed on December 6.
Here’s a full rundown of the 4 pots:
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, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, European Play-Off Winners A, B, C and D, FIFA Play-Off Match Winners 1 and a pair of.