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Jeff Carlisle
2026 world cup The four highest ranked teams in the draw to be held on December 5 will be awarded — spain, argentina, France And England — which will be placed in different segments of the new tennis-style seeded tournament bracket.
FIFA said on Tuesday that the top four teams in the latest men’s rankings, if they top their respective round-robin groups, will avoid each other until the semi-finals of the tournament to be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.
With defending champions Argentina Lionel Messi and with top-ranked European champions Spain Lamin Yamal So that can ensure they don’t meet until the final at the MetLife Stadium near New York.
In previous World Cups, teams’ entry into and passage through the knockout stage was determined by which group they were drawn into.
The draw, to be held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, will place 48 teams into four pots, dividing them into 12 groups of four teams each. An updated match schedule, specifying the stadium where each match will take place along with its respective kick-off time, will be released on Saturday, 6 December. FIFA said the draw would take about 45 minutes, with the show expected to last about an hour and a half.
The three host nations are placed in Pot 1 along with the nine highest-ranked nations based on FIFA rankings. These include Spain, Argentina, France, England. brazil, portugalThe Netherlands, belgium And Germany,
The 42 teams that have already qualified include Iran and Haiti, who FIFA expects will play where they have been drawn, despite those countries’ complicated politics with the United States. The 16 host locations for the 104 games include 11 cities with NFL stadiums in the US, three in Mexico and two in Canada.
The other six entries will be decided in March when the European and global playoff brackets are determined, and they will all come out of a draw pot of lowest-ranked teams.
i.e. four-time champion Italy A risky option could be the draw on Friday next week that will determine the match schedule by placing teams into 12 round-robin groups of four teams each.
For pot 1, Canada, Mexico and this United States of AmericaAs host countries, will be identified by different colored balls and, when drawn, will be ranked A1 (green ball) for Mexico, B1 (red ball) for Canada and D1 (blue ball) for the United States.
The remaining nine top-ranked teams in Pot 1 will be identified by nine balls of the same color and will automatically be allocated to position 1 of the group they belong to.
The next 12 highest ranked teams will advance to Pot 2.
This includes croatia, morocco, Colombia, uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, senegal, iran, south korea, Ecuador, austria And Australia,
The next 12 highest placed teams will move to Pot 3, and will include Norway, panama, egypt, Algeria, scotland, paraguay, tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Queue, saudi arabiaAnd South Africa,
The remaining teams will move into Pot 4 along with the six winners of the Intercontinental Playoff. This vessel contains JordanCape Verde, ghana, Curacao, haiti And New Zealand.
The four intercontinental playoff winners will consist of four teams from UEFA and two teams from elsewhere.
The draw will be such that teams from the same confederation will not be placed in the same group. Europe is the exception as there are more European teams (16) than Group A (12).
This will result in four groups consisting of two European teams and the remaining one team from Europe.
To ensure competitive balance, top-ranked Spain and second-ranked Argentina will be randomly drawn and placed in groups on opposite routes. The same will apply to the third and fourth highest ranked teams (France and England). This ensures that if they win their group, the two highest ranked teams cannot meet before the final.
The US, which was placed first in Group D, will face a team from Pot 3 in its opening game on June 12 in Inglewood, California. This will be followed by a match against a team from Pot 2 at Lumen Field in Seattle on June 19, with the group stage concluding against a team from Pot 4 in Inglewood. For the USMNT, the toughest game will probably be the second match with a team from Pot 2.
Similarly, Mexico, drawn in Group A, will open the tournament on June 11 against a team from Pot 3 at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, followed by a match against a team from Pot 2 on June 18 at the Estadio Akron outside Guadalajara, and their final group stage match six days later in Mexico City against a team from Pot 4.
Canada’s schedule will be a little different. It will open the tournament against a Pot 4 team on June 12 at BMO Field in Toronto. Its second match will be held six days later in Vancouver against the Pot 3 team, the group stage final will also be held in Vancouver against the Pot 2 team.
world cup draw pot
Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany
Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, Republic of Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia
Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
Pot 4: Jordan, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, European Playoff A, B, C and D, FIFA Playoff Tournament 1 and 2
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
