England, Scotland and 46 other nations discover their World Cup 2026 group stage opponents on Friday evening as the draw takes place in Washington D.C. The ceremony begins at 5pm GMT at the Kennedy Center, shaping the path to next summer's expanded tournament.
This marks the first World Cup featuring 48 teams across 12 groups of four. The United States, Canada and Mexico will co-host the event from June 11 to July 19, 2026, with the final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
England enters the draw in Pot 1 as the fourth-ranked nation globally. Scotland returns to the World Cup stage for the first time since 1998, placed in Pot 3 after securing qualification with a 4-2 victory over Denmark.
Draw mechanics and seeding
The tournament's three co-hosts join the world's top nine ranked teams in Pot 1: Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Mexico ranks 15th globally, the USA 14th and Canada 27th.
A new seeding system prevents the top four ranked nations from meeting until the semi-finals, provided they win their groups. FIFA rankings determine the remaining pots, with qualification playoffs still ongoing for six spots.
Groups will contain teams from different confederations, with one exception: Europe can place up to two teams per group due to having 16 qualifying nations. The top two from each group advance, along with the eight best third-place finishers, creating a 32-team knockout stage.
Star-studded ceremony
The draw features supermodel Heidi Klum, comedian Kevin Hart and actor Danny Ramirez as co-hosts. Former England defender Rio Ferdinand will oversee the actual draw, joined by sporting legends Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky, Aaron Judge and Shaquille O'Neal.
Musical performances from the Village People, Robbie Williams, Andrea Bocelli and Nicole Scherzinger will accompany the proceedings. US President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend and deliver a speech.
The ceremony is expected to last approximately 90 minutes. UK viewers can watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, while FIFA will stream the event on its website and YouTube channel.
Tournament structure
The expanded format brings 104 total matches across 16 cities spanning North America. The USA will host 78 games, with Mexico and Canada each hosting 13. The opening match kicks off at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, which previously hosted World Cup finals won by Brazil in 1970 and Argentina in 1986.
Mexico has been pre-assigned to Group A, Canada to Group B and the USA to Group D. Each host nation will play its group stage matches on home soil.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
