As the qualifying campaign for the 2026 World Cup reaches its climax, football fans across the globe will be eagerly awaiting the draw for the group stage.
The expanded format for next summer’s tournament means that there will be 48 teams heading to North America next June, where supporters will have to get used to a tweak to the usual format, as the days of eight groups of four teams, with the top two sides progressing, are over.
This also means changes to the traditional World Cup draw that has been in place since the last time the tournament was expanded in 1998, when the number of participants rose from 24 to 32.
When is the FIFA World Cup draw and what is the format?
This new format will see each qualifier placed into one of four pots, which will be based on their FIFA ranking.
Teams will then be drawn one at a time, cycling between pots one to four, with a computer placing them into a random group, which takes into account any geographical restrictions, for example, that no countries from the same confederation can be in the same group, except UEFA, which can have two teams in a group.
The three co-hosts will be in pot one, with Mexico already assigned to Group A, Canada to Group B and the United States to Group D.
The draw will take place on Friday, December 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, with a scheduled start time of 5pm, UK time and will be streamed on the FIFA YouTube channel, with British television coverage yet to be confirmed.
While the majority of qualified teams will be known by the time of the draw, there will be some gaps due to the Inter-confederation play-offs.
These take place in North America in March 2026 and will see six teams - one from AFC, CAF, CONMEBOL and OFC, plus two from CONCACAF - compete in a mini-knockout tournament that will result in two single-elimination matches, where the two winners will qualify for the World Cup. During December’s draw, these sides will be placed in pot four.
The 2026 World Cup begins on June 11, with co-hosts Mexico playing the first game against a yet-to-be-decided opponent at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, the venue of the 1970 and 1986 World Cup finals.
The expanded group stage will consist of 72 matches, with the last-32 beginning on June 28 and the knockout stage then continuing until the final on July 19, which will be played at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
