FIFA has officially confirmed the complete structure and procedures for the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final Draw, which will take place on 5 December 2025 at 17:00 GMT in Washington, D.C., at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The event will determine the tournament’s group-stage pairings for what is set to be the largest World Cup ever held. The 2026 edition will feature a record 48 teams competing in 104 matches, marking the most expanded format in the competition’s 96-year history. It will also be the first time the World Cup is staged across three countries—Canada, Mexico and the United States—making it only the second co-hosted tournament after Japan and South Korea in 2002.
FIFA has confirmed that the tournament will adopt a 12-group format, with each group containing four teams. The top two sides from every group will advance to the knockout stage, joined by the eight best third-placed teams, creating a full round of 32. This format ensures that all nations will play at least three matches while maintaining a clear competitive pathway toward the latter stages. Following the draw, FIFA will publish the final match schedule on 6 December, including venue-specific assignments and kickoff times across the 16 host cities. With 39 days of football planned, this will be the longest World Cup ever organised.
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The draw itself will be based on four pots, each containing 12 teams determined by FIFA’s November 2025 world rankings. The three co-host nations—United States, Mexico and Canada—automatically occupy positions in Pot 1 alongside the world’s highest-ranked teams. FIFA’s confederation rule will apply throughout the draw, preventing teams from the same region from being placed in the same group, except in the case of UEFA, which has 16 qualifiers and therefore may have up to two European teams in a single group.
African representation will be particularly strong, with Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, South Africa, Cabo Verde and Ghana all securing qualification. Morocco enter the tournament on the back of their historic fourth-place finish in 2022, while Cabo Verde are set for their first appearance at the finals. As anticipation builds, global attention now shifts to Washington, where the draw will set the stage for the most ambitious World Cup ever presented.